Don't Let Go
by Moondalian
Summary: AU: Wanting to escape his father and the palace, Atemu sneaks away with his cousin Seth and meets some new friends in a town nearby. When mages overthrow the old Pharaoh, it’s up to Atemu and his new friends to save Egypt from this new tyrant. YxYY, SxJ
1. Prologue: A reason to hate you

**Authoress: Moondalian  
Editor: Mystic Dodo  
Summary: Wanting to escape his father and the palace, Atemu sneaks away and meets some new friends in a town nearby. When mages overthrow the old Pharaoh, it's up to Atemu and his new friends to save Egypt from this new tyrant.  
****Pairings: Atemu x Yuugi (main), Seth x Jou (side) **

* * *

**--: Prologue :--  
A reason to hate you **

"Mom! Mom! Look what I found!" a small boy with spiky tri-coloured hair yelled at his mother. The boy couldn't have been older than five with somewhat sharp crimson-coloured eyes, a sun-kissed skin, and slightly chubby build. He was wearing sandy white robes with a yellow sash around his waist, and golden jewellery around his wrists and upper arms.

"What is it Atemu?" his mother replied as she looked up from the scroll she was reading, her brown eyes focusing on her son. Her raven black hair with crimson streaks through it reached her hips and she had a nicely tanned skin as well. She was wearing a beautiful sleeveless ocean blue dress that reached just passed her knees, clinging to her body in all the right places.

The boy ran over to his mother, followed by a boy who looked only a bit older than his friend. His brown hair only just reached above his ears, as icy blue eyes stood out in his face tremendously, the golden touches to his blue robes shimmering in the light shining into the room.

Atemu stopped in front of his mother, and opened his closed hands to reveal a small bug sitting on the palm of his left hand. His mother smiled as she looked at the bug, just before it flew away with blue transparent wings.

"Aw, it flew away again," the older of the two muttered, "now we'll have to catch it all over."

"Where did you two find it?" Atemu's mother asked.

"In the palace garden. It was sitting on a tree and we caught it." Atemu replied, smiling cheerfully.

"Didn't father say that you had to study?" his mother asked.

Atemu looked down at the ground, blushing slightly. He knew his mother was right and that he was supposed to have studied. But playing with his friend and cousin Seth had seemed so much more fun, that he had ignored his father's biddings.

"It's all my fault, your majesty. I persuaded Atemu to come and play," Seth said, "I was just really bored."

"Is that so? Well, I guess I'll let you off the hook this time, but next time I'll have to take action." Atemu's mother said, mocking evident in her voice. "And I wish you would stop calling me 'your majesty'. Just call me Kireira."

The boy smiled, "I'll try." he said.

"But I think you should go and study before father finds out that you've been playing instead." Kireira said, turning back to her son again.

"Yes mother." Atemu said reluctantly, his gaze turning to the ground in slight sadness.

"I guess I'll see you later." Seth said, trying to cheer his friend up a bit.

"Yeah. I'll try and study quickly, so we can play some more later." Atemu said, smiling slightly as he looked back up.

Atemu turned around and walked into one of the maze-like corridors of the palace just outside the throne room, heading towards his own room.

"I guess I'll go back to my father to see if he needs me," Seth said, bowing to Kireira.

"I think my husband ordered him to study some new scrolls. I'm guessing he'll be in his chambers," Kireira said with a warm smile.

"Probably." Seth smiled slightly, before turning around and walking into one of the many corridors himself.

"They'll never learn." Kireira whispered to herself, the smile lingering on her lips for a few more moments, before she turned back to the scroll she'd been reading before.

"KIREIRA!" an angry voice suddenly shattered the silence of the palace.

Kireira sighed; her husband must have found out that Atemu hadn't been studying, and of course wanted to know where he was now.

"What is it, Aknunkanon?" she asked, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

Aknunkanon burst into the throne room, and looked at Kireira enraged, "WHERE'S ATEMU!" he demanded.

"In his room studying." Kireira replied calmly.

"NO HE'S NOT! I JUST CHECKED!" Aknunkanon yelled again.

"I just send him there to study, so calm down," Kireira shushed.

"He should have been studying all afternoon!" Aknunkanon exclaimed.

Kireira let out another sigh. Aknunkanon was too strict with Atemu. He kept forgetting that Atemu was only five, and didn't want to study all day long. She watched as her husband walked back and forth in front of her; raging on about how undisciplined Atemu was. Suddenly, Aknunkanon turned to her, the enraged look only growing angrier.

"And you," he started, "you're only making it worse!"

"Calm down, Aknunkanon." Kireira said, trying to calm her husband down enough so the man wouldn't do any foolish things.

"NO!" Aknunkanon raged on, "You're making it harder for me to raise Atemu in the right way!"

"I'm not doing anything of that sort," Kireira said calmly, "I'm just trying to raise him differently."

"The wrong way you mean!" Aknunkanon hissed.

Kireira let out yet another sigh. There was no talking to Aknunkanon when he was like this. Then again… there was usually no talking to him anyway. Why had she loved this man once? She didn't know anymore. The love she had once felt for this man was long gone, and so was his love for her, if he had ever loved her at all.

Kireira listened to Aknunkanon rage on until he finally stopped, and stormed out of the throne room without saying what he was going to do.

Kireira stood up and quickly followed; knowing exactly where Aknunkanon was going. He was going to Atemu's room, and if she didn't protect her son, he'd be wearing bruises for a couple of days.

She saw Aknunkanon enter Atemu's room as she turned a corner of the palace, and hastily entered it herself. She was just in time to stop the fist Aknunkanon send to Atemu by standing in front of the scared five year old, who was lying on the ground in shock and fear, books opened in front of him.

* * *

The next morning, Aknunkanon and Kireira were sitting in the dining room having breakfast. They hadn't spoken to each other since the day before, when Kireira had stopped Aknunkanon from hitting Atemu. Aknunkanon left the table shortly, returning a minute later with a satisfied smirk on his face. Kireira looked at him suspiciously. What was he so happy about? Just a minute ago, his look could have killed anybody who dared to look at the Pharaoh.

"Why are you so happy all of a sudden?" Kireira questioned as a servant brought two glasses of wine.

"I'm going to make sure that Atemu is raised in the right way from now on." Aknunkanon answered, slowly taking a sip of his wine.

"Not as long as I'm around." Kireira said defiantly, her voice low and determined.

She took her glass of wine and took a small sip herself, only half realizing it tasted differently from usual, before looking back at her husband again.

"That won't be any problem anymore." Aknunkanon said, his smirk widening as Kireira drank more of her wine.

Kireira lowered her glass and looked into Aknunkanon's eyes suspiciously. What did that mean? She stared deep into his eyes, and then her own brown orbs widened in sudden realisation. She looked at the glass of wine in her hand, and finally realized completely that it had tasted differently. She looked back to Aknunkanon and saw the grin that was now filling not only his face, but also his eyes. She dropped the glass and it shattered on the ground into a million pieces.

"No," she whispered barely audible, "you wouldn't."

Aknunkanon just kept looking at her with that grin on his face, "I would," was all he said in a whisper.

Kireira stood up in shock, knowing it was true and not a bluff. She tried to take a few steps back, but fell to the ground almost immediately.

All the guards in the room ran over to their Queen to see what was wrong. Aknunkanon just stood there, his grin now replaced by a look of triumph.

"CALL HIGH PRIEST AKNADIN!" one of the guards shouted, "THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH THE QUEEN!"

A couple of guards ran out of the room to the High Priest, and as they ran through the open dining room doors, Atemu walked in. He looked around the room confused, trying to find the cause of all the panic and looked at the guards surrounding his mother. At first he didn't understand what was going on, but as soon as he looked at his mother more closely, he saw that there was something terribly wrong with her.

The young boy ran to his mother who, by now, could hardly keep her eyes open, let alone speak.

"Mom… What's wrong?" Atemu asked anxiously, his hands clutching the fabric of the dress his mother was wearing.

"She's been poisoned Atemu." Aknunkanon answered before Kireira could even attempt to speak, his voice tinted with the smallest amount of triumph so that you could only hear it if you were concentrating on it.

Atemu looked up at his father in misunderstanding. Poisoned? But how? Why? Who would even want to do such a thing to his mother? He just didn't understand.

Kireira closed her eyes, not able to keep them open any longer. The poison Aknunkanon had used was quick, rendering its victim unable to defy it in any way. She wanted to warn her son, but knew Aknunkanon wouldn't allow her to speak in such a way.

Aknunkanon smirked at his now almost dead wife, making sure Atemu didn't see it. From this day forward, he would be in complete control of how his son would be raised, and he'd make sure the boy would become just like him. "I'm going to see what's taking my brother so long to get here." Aknunkanon said, turning his back to Atemu and leaving the room.

Now only Atemu and two guards were standing around the Queen's almost lifeless body. Atemu bowed over his mother, eyes closed, tears rolling over his face silently.

"A-te-mu…" his mother whispered, her voice barely audible.

Atemu opened his eyes and stared at his mother. She had opened her eyes slightly, and was looking into her son's fear filled ones.

"Mom…" Atemu sobbed, "Don't… leave… me…"

Kireira looked straight into Atemu's eyes. "Stay… away… from… Aknun… kanon…" she managed to say, her voice shaking as she did.

Atemu looked at his mother in misunderstanding. Why would she say such a thing?

"Why…" Atemu asked whispering.

"He's… the one… who… poisoned me…" Kireira stammered, her voice weakening with every word.

"But… No… How… No!" Atemu said a little louder.

The two guards looked at him strangely. Kireira had spoken so softly that the guards had not heard her, so they did not understand why Atemu had spoken so suddenly.

Atemu ignored the murmuring guards, and focused on his mother again. He still didn't understand… His father would never do something like that… would he?

"Don't… let him… change you…" Kireira said, "Stay pure… Stay… as you… are…"

Atemu stared into her eyes, and saw that she meant every word she had said. She was not delirious or something, he was sure of that. And if that was so… … … then his father really had poisoned her…

He saw his mother's eyes close and silent tears rolled over his cheeks again. He laid his hand on her chest where her heart should be, and felt that the heartbeat had stopped. He closed his eyes and sobbed silently, wishing it would all be a nightmare. That his mother would just stand up and hug him… comfort him…

Aknunkanon came in followed by High Priest Aknadin at that moment, "Let Aknadin do his work Atemu." Aknunkanon said as he pulled his son away from the now dead Queen.

"Stay away!" Atemu exclaimed as he pulled himself free from his father's grasp.

Aknunkanon stared at his son shocked. The tears in Atemu's eyes had vanished, and an angry glare had replaced them, his eyes filled with hatred.

"Atemu! Don't use that tone on me." Aknunkanon ordered, anger slowly taking over his voice.

"No," Atemu hissed, "you killed her."

Aknunkanon's eyes widened in shock and he froze. How could Atemu know? How could he know that he had had killed Kireira?

"What? How dare you accuse me of such a thing!" Aknunkanon roared.

"She told me! You killed her!" Atemu yelled back.

He turned his back on his father and uncle, and ran out of the room towards his own, his eyes filling with tears again.

"ATEMU!" a voice from behind yelled, though not his father's one. Atemu stopped and turned around to see Seth running towards him with a worried look on his face.

"What's going on? Why is there so much commotion? Why…?" he then noticed the tears in his friend's eyes, "What happened?"

"He…" Atemu couldn't stop himself anymore. The tears started to flow freely, and he couldn't say another word. He broke down on the floor, and Seth put his arms around him to try and comfort his best friend although, he still didn't know what was upsetting him so much.

They heard Aknunkanon's voice yelling at everybody around him, and calling for Atemu. Atemu got up with some difficulty, and walked towards his room where he would be safe from his father's rage. Seth followed silently and locked the door behind them.

"Atemu… What happened?" Seth asked when Atemu had calmed down a little, "Why was father called to the throne room so suddenly?"

"She's… dead." Atemu whispered.

"Who's dead?" Seth asked, not understanding anything his friend was saying.

"Mother… She was killed." Atemu whispered, tears forming in his eyes again as his voice shook.

Seth's eyes widened in shock and horror, "No… That can't be! She can't be… How?" Seth stammered.

"She was poisoned." Atemu replied. He didn't want to tell Seth that it had been his father who had killed his mother. Seth probably wouldn't even believe him anyway. Who would believe that the Pharaoh of Egypt would kill his own wife?

Seth just stared at him. This just couldn't be happening, "But… By whom?" he asked.

"I don't know." Atemu lied, "She told me that I had to stay as I am. I don't understand," the tears started to flow again. Seth felt him own tears coming down his face as well now. The Queen had always been like a second mother to him. He just couldn't imagine not seeing her anymore. Not hearing her voice ever again. Not seeing the warm smile on her face.

After a while, there was a soft knock on the door.

"Who's there?" Seth asked, his voice still quivering slightly but mostly under control as he spoke.

"It's me. Can I come in?" an adult male voice asked, although it was not Aknunkanon's.

Seth walked to the door and opened it to reveal his father. "The Queen is dead. There was nothing I could do to save her. The poison had already been in her body too long," he said as he looked at the still crying Atemu, "Your father also wants to see you, Atemu."

Atemu shook his head, "I don't want to see him. Tell him that," he whispered, hate lacing the words even if the boy was trying to hold it all from his voice.

Aknadin raised an eyebrow, "It would be wise if you did see him. Especially after that outburst in the throne room."

"I don't care." Atemu said, "Leave."

Aknadin bowed reluctantly, and left to tell his brother what Atemu had said, fearing the reaction he'd get.

"You should go talk to your father." Seth said after closing the door behind his father and locking it again.

"You don't get it." Atemu said, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"Get what?" Seth asked confused.

"It doesn't matter. I just can't see my father right now." Atemu whispered, "Could you leave as well? I want to be alone."

Seth nodded in understanding, and left the room without pushing the subject of Atemu going to his father any further. It was obvious that the boy was upset with the Pharaoh for some reason unknown to the brunette, and it wasn't his place to pry in affairs that didn't concern him.

Atemu dropped himself onto his pillow, and just cried until he finally fell asleep. His dreams were filled with his mother being killed, and his father just laughing evilly. He tossed and turned in his sleep, mentally wished for nothing more than to just forget about it, until his mind complied and stuffed all his memories of his mother away to never remember again. As the boy awoke the next morning though, he felt the strong feeling of hatred towards his father run through him. He didn't remember why anymore, but one thing was certain: It was something he could never forgive his father for doing, and he would definitely not ignore that feeling.


	2. Chapter 1: Escape from hell

**--: 1 :--  
Escape from hell **

"ATEMU!" an angry voice rang through the palace halls, startling the maids and servants from their work.

There was no reply.

"ATEMU!" the voice yelled again, growing more impatient with each passing minute.

Still no reply.

"Your Majesty, I think he's in his room." another voice, belonging to one of the scared servants, sounding very nervous.

The Pharaoh - who had been the one yelling - ran over to his son's room and threw the door open. He saw the 17-year old lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling in a bored way. He was wearing his usual sandy white robe with a gold collar, a blue cape, golden manacles, and other jewellery. The Millennium Puzzle, hanging from a chain around his neck, was lying on his chest peacefully.

"Atemu! Why didn't you answer when I called you!" Aknunkanon demanded angrily, very irritated that his son was acting the way he was.

"Didn't feel like it." Atemu answered, not even looking at his father but staring at the same spot on the ceiling, obviously finding it more interesting than the raging man standing in his room.

Aknunkanon shook with rage. Why was his son doing this to him? Why was he so undisciplined when he had been taught to behave himself and listen?

"GET OFF THE BED AND COME WITH ME!" Aknunkanon roared, but Atemu didn't move a muscle.

"I don't wan to." the teen said, a hint of annoyance in his voice now.

"ATEMU! LISTEN-" Aknunkanon started, but before he could start ordering Atemu to do anything, Atemu cut him off.

"No!" the teen yelled, finally looking at his father with hate shining in his crimson orbs, "You listen and get out!"

Atemu jumped off the bed, the Millennium Puzzle flaring to life and shining brightly now, before pushing his father out of the room. Aknunkanon was so shocked by Atemu's reaction, that he couldn't react fast enough. By the time he had recovered enough, Atemu had already locked the door right in front of him.

Atemu went back to lie down on his bed again, the Millennium Puzzle dimming as he did. He heard his father banging on the door in rage, but just ignored it. He'd give up eventually; he always did. Atemu started to stare at the ceiling again, emptying his mind and just not thinking about anything. He didn't even notice his father running away while cursing loudly.

After an hour or so, Atemu heard a soft knock on the door. That couldn't be his father, right? No, his father wouldn't knock on the door; he'd probably try to break it down. Atemu stood up and walked to the door, opening it slowly to reveal a boy looking just a bit older than he was standing in front of him.

The teen was wearing blue and white robes with broad golden shoulder-pieces, a thick golden collar, golden anklets and manacles, a tall blue hat with a gold Egyptian snake resting on his forehead, and a golden ankh in the centre of his chest hanging from his neck by a chain. If you had to guess an age, it would probably be around 18 years old.

Atemu smiled a little, and opened the door completely, "Hey Seth." he greeted.

Seth looked at him with a worried look on his face, "You're really doing it on purpose, aren't you?" he questioned.

"What did I do now?" Atemu asked, stepping aside so Seth could enter.

"Your father's about ready to kill you." Seth replied calmly. He entered the room and sat down on the bed as if the room were his own.

"So? What else is new?" Atemu asked shrugging. He locked the door again, and sat down next to his cousin with an indifferent look on his face.

"I just don't get why you keep doing this. I know your father is a tyrant but you're only making it harder on yourself." Seth said.

Seth looked at Atemu, who had lain down on his bed again and was once more staring at the ceiling as if something really interesting was happening there.

"I just hate him." Atemu whispered, "I don't even know why. He did something terrible, but for some reason I can't remember. I only know that I could never forgive him for it."

Seth looked at Atemu frowning. They had already been through this conversation for what seemed like a million times, but he still didn't get what his friend had so obviously blocked out.

"I still think it has something to do with the death of my mother." Atemu added sighing.

"It's not like your father had anything to do with that, Atemu." Seth countered, "She was poisoned by someone."

"I know." Atemu muttered. He turned his head to face Seth and looked at him seriously, cerulean-blue locking with blood-red crimson, "But I still think father had something to do with it."

Seth let out a sigh; Atemu was just too darn stubborn. He looked at the Prince and saw a smile come onto the other's face… a smile he knew all too well.

"What are you up to now?" Seth asked with a sigh, "Something against the rules I presume."

"Of course. Would I do something that my father would approve of?" Atemu asked, his smile turning into a smirk.

"No." Seth replied, his lips now curling into a smile as well, "Not even if your life depended on it."

"That's what I was thinking," Atemu stood up and walked to the window, "are you coming?"

"What are we going to do?" Seth asked suspiciously. No doubt this would be another one of Atemu's crazy ideas that would get them both into a lot of trouble.

"We're going to jump out of the window to see what's up in the kingdom." Atemu replied simply as if it was the most normal thing to do.

Seth stared at him dumbstruck. What was Atemu thinking! They couldn't just go into the kingdom. They'd be recognized!

"Are you out of your mind!" Seth exclaimed.

"Yes." Atemu replied smirking.

"Dumb question." Seth muttered, "We'll be recognized! We can't do this."

"Yes we can. I have some peasant clothes hidden in the garden; I do this all the time." Atemu said as he got ready to jump out of the window, "Come on!"

Jumping out of the window and landing on his feet, Atemu looked up and saw Seth staring at him through the window.

"COME ON!" he yelled, before running towards the garden to change, knowing that his cousin would follow him eventually.

Seth stared at his friend as he ran away. Why was he so adventurous? Why couldn't he just be the indoor type?

Seth looked at the door behind him, thinking about what he should do now. He could go back to the Pharaoh and tell him he couldn't bring Atemu with him, or jump out of a window, break about every rule he'd ever been taught, but have a blast.

The first option would mean getting yelled at and possibly decapitated, the second having a lot of fun and then getting decapitated when the Pharaoh found out. The phase, 'no-brainer', definitely came to mind here.

* * *

Atemu changed behind a bush, and as he pulled the hat of his cloak over his head to hide his trademark tri-coloured spiky hair, he saw Seth coming towards him. Atemu smirked; he knew his friend wouldn't resist a day full of fun.

"I can't believe I'm doing this." Seth muttered as Atemu handed him some clothes.

"You're doing it because you know it's going to be fun." Atemu said to his friend, his smirk widening.

Seth glared at his cousin before quickly changing behind the bushes as well, and walking to the city. It was only a two minute walk, and when they got there, Seth couldn't believe his eyes. He saw merchants trying to sell so many different things, he never would've guessed so much even existed. Thieves were trying to steal food and jewellery – the merchants yelling at all those thieves - and so many more things.

"Are you okay, Seth?" Atemu asked smirking, "You look sort of… astonished. That's not a look I'm used to see on your face.

Seth immediately changed the expression on his face back to the way it normally was, and looked at Atemu, "Me? Astonished? Never." he said smirking back at his friend.

"I didn't think so." Atemu said, a slight hint of mocking in his voice. Seth just rolled his eyes and ignored it.

They walked around the market for several hours until they both got hungry. Seth suggested going back to the palace, but of course Atemu had a better idea.

"And what is this idea of yours?" Seth asked, eying Atemu suspiciously and seeing another stupid plan forming in the other's head.

Atemu glanced at a merchant who was selling fruit, and while the merchant was busy helping a customer, grabbed two apples from the cart.

Seth stared at the Prince dumbstruck. When Atemu turned back and saw Seth's expression, he burst out into laughter. The look on Seth's face was just too funny not to.

Seth quickly dragged his friend into an alley so the merchant wouldn't find out what Atemu had done, before turning back to the still laughing teen and glaring at him.

"What in Ra's name did you think you were doing!" he exclaimed at the Prince.

"What?" Atemu asked, wiping away the tears in his eyes.

"You stole those apples!" Seth yelled.

"So? I didn't bring any money." Atemu replied shrugging.

"Now you've really lost me. You're the richest person in all of Egypt, and you're stealing?"

"So?" Atemu asked, "I don't care."

Seth was about to start yelling at his cousin, when someone ran into the alley they were in and knocked Seth to the ground. The next minute that person was grabbed by a couple of guards.

"Now we've got you!" one of the guards said, smirking triumphantly.

Atemu stared in slight shock at the person who was trying to get loose from the guards to no avail. The boy had the same tri-coloured hair as he had, only the boy's was less wild and had no blond going up the spikes in lightning shaped forms like his own had. The other's eyes were wider, more childlike and innocent, and a beautiful amethyst colour, whereas his own were more narrow and crimson. The boy's cherubic face was more childlike than his own anyway. His own was sharper, more matured, and the boy was obviously younger and shorter than himself, though Atemu suspected the boy to be around 16. Still, you could easily mistake them for one another.

The boy was wearing robes that must have been white at one point, but were now a grey colour with a purple sash around his slim waist. Atemu could only describe the boy in two words: breathtakingly beautiful.

Atemu kept staring in some sort of trance as the boy's amethyst eyes looked around frantically for help, "LET GO!" the boy yelled at the guards as he struggled to get free.

"Over my dead body Yuugi! We finally got you after all this time! I'm not letting you get away from us this time." one of the guards said, grinning as if there were no tomorrow.

The boy – Yuugi – looked around at the two other people present once more with pleading amethyst eyes, before deciding that neither of them could help him and he stopped most of his struggles – though he still continued at a less wild level – so he could look at the two figures. Both of them were in dirty peasant clothes with caps that shadowed their faces. He took in the person who he had crashed into while running. The only thing you could really see were two cerulean-blue orbs that were showing shock at the moment, though the person was obviously trying to hide it. His clothes were a light brown though they were darkened by the dirt and dust. A black sash was around his slim body and though he was really tall, Yuugi could still tell that he was around 18 years old.

He glanced at the other person, only to gasp slightly, though nobody seemed to notice. The other was wearing robes the same colour as the sands of Egypt with a crimson red sash around his slim waist. The cap of his cloak was slightly lifted higher than his companion's, so the hairstyle had to be spiked upwards or something. He was quite well-toned, and had a rich tan. When Yuugi looked up into his eyes, he was met with crimson orbs that were staring right back at him. Yuugi couldn't help but blush at the intense stare coming from the other, as well as the body the other so obviously possessed.

"What's going on here?" Seth demanded, breaking the stares between Atemu and Yuugi and glaring at the guards.

The guards – as well as Atemu who had snapped out of his daze at his friend's voice - looked at him strangely. The guards obviously didn't recognize him.

"And who do you think you are?" a guard asked with obvious distaste sounding in his voice.

"I'm-" Seth started but Atemu put his hand over Seth's mouth, silencing him quickly.

"Nobody!" Atemu said quickly, "We're just a couple of commoners." He glared at Seth for almost giving them away, before looking back at the guards.

The guard looked at him with a death glare on his face, "Then shut up!" he yelled.

Atemu wanted to retort but managed not to. He removed his hand from Seth's mouth, and started to think of a plan to help the boy still struggling in the guard's grip. There had to be some way to get him out of this without showing the guards who they really were… but what?

"Excuse me." Seth said.

The guards looked at him again, "What do you want now?" he growled.

Seth started to ramble about things that he didn't like about the way they were treating the commoners. At first Atemu just stared at him – wondering if his cousin had finally gone nuts - but then understood that Seth was merely distracting the guards so he could help the boy.

Atemu slowly stepped over to the guard holding the – in his opinion – little angel. The boy had stopped trying to free himself completely now, and looked up at Atemu when he was next to him.

"Run when you can." Atemu whispered under his breath so only his angel could hear.

Yuugi nodded, still half in a daze, and looked as the other closed his eyes in concentration.

Atemu concentrated on some of the Shadow Magic in the Millennium Puzzle around his neck - which he had managed to keep hidden under his clothes.

A small blue flaming aura appeared around him as his eyes snapped back open, but the guards were too busy 'listening' to Seth to notice, though the younger boy's eyes widened in surprise.

Atemu used the Shadow Magic to throw the guard holding his angel into a wall. He quickly grabbed the hand of his still shocked look-alike, and started to run away as fast as he could, hoping that Seth would follow him. He had sneaked out of the palace so many times already, that he knew the city better than the palace itself, so he knew exactly where he had to go.

He stopped when he was sure the guards hadn't followed him, and turned around to see Seth stopping behind him. He then let go of the younger boy's hand they had saved, who was standing next to him.

Yuugi looked up at his saviours with a grateful look on his face, "Thank you." he said, "I never would've gotten away from them if it hadn't been for you two." he added before beating down a new upcoming blush as crimson eyes once again locked with his.

"It was nothing." the cerulean-eyed boy replied calmly.

"Yeah, he's right." his crimson-eyed said, smiling gently at him.

Yuugi's heart skipped a beat at hearing the deep silky baritone voice from his saviour, _'Damn it, I don't even know him and I'm already falling for him! What happened to me never falling in love with anyone!'_

Atemu stared at the angel in front of him, fighting off a blush at taking in the younger teen's looks again. He hoped neither Seth, nor the younger boy would see that blush but he knew it was there.

"What are your names?" the boy asked curiously.

"Uhm…" Atemu's mind raced, trying to think of a name; he'd never given thought to a name if he met someone in the city, "Yami." he said smiling nervously.

The boy smiled, not seeming to notice the nervous tone in Atemu's voice. "What about you?" he asked, turning to Seth.

"Seto." Seth said calmly, the smoothness with which it was said annoying Atemu slightly; why was his cousin always so calm in situations like this!

"Mine's Yuugi." Yuugi said.

Atemu smiled and shook Yuugi's outstretched hand as he held it out, but before he could start thinking of stuff to do with his new friend – some ideas less innocent than others - Seth just had to interfere and crush all chances of having fun.

"Hey Yami." Seth said in a mocking tone," We have to get back home."

Atemu glared at his friend mildly, but nodded nonetheless.

"See you around some other time perhaps." Atemu said to Yuugi.

"Yeah. I hope so. I'm in your debt." Yuugi said smiling.

"Don't worry about it," Atemu said shrugging, "it was my pleasure." He smirked as a blush dusted Yuugi's cheeks lightly, before waving goodbye and following Seth who had already started to walk.

Atemu and Seth reached the palace before long, and sneaked back in after changing back into their normal royal attire.

"So how did you like it?" Atemu asked smirking smugly at his cousin walking next to him, knowing the other had enjoyed himself.

"Besides the rescue operation and finding out that you're nothing but a thief… I had fun." Seth said, "I still don't get why you stole those apples." He mentally snorted; they hadn't even been able to eat them.

"Because it creates chaos and that's bad for my father." Atemu replied simply.

Seth stared at him, "Is that really the only reason?" he asked.

"Yeah, I want to annoy my father and this is one way of doing it." Atemu said. He looked at the sundial and to see it was almost dinner time.

"Come on. We'd better get to dinner or my father's going to ask where we were." he said quickening his pace.

Seth followed, quickening his pace as well. "When are you going to the city again?" he asked, a small smirk on his face.

"I don't know. Tomorrow I guess." Atemu answered, "Why?"

"Because I want to come with you." Seth said.

"Aren't you afraid I'll infect you with the 'thief-virus'." Atemu mocked.

Seth rolled his eyes. "Whatever." then smirked again, "By the way, did I see wrong, or did you _blush_?"

Atemu turned his face away, knowing that another blush was already appearing, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Seth's smirk widened, "I knew it. The great almighty 'I-never-fall-in-love' Atemu finally has a crush on someone."

Atemu glared at him, "I do _not_ have a crush on Yuugi." he said defiantly.

"Riiiiiiiiight and I'm going to be the next Pharaoh." Seth said.

Atemu decided to ignore Seth's teasing for now as they entered the dinning room, and sat down at their usual seats. Luckily his father wasn't there yet, so Seth and he would probably get off the hook.

Aknunkanon entered only seconds later and they all started eating silently, although you could see that Aknunkanon would just love to start yelling at his son again. The only thing keeping him from doing this, were all the servants around them. Atemu just hoped that he could get away from his father before they were done eating and his father would have another chance to yell at him.

* * *

Yuugi slowly entered the duel ground, still thinking about what had just happened to him. He looked around trying to find his friends so he could tell them of his little adventure in town. His childhood friend Teana was sitting near a table, as his other friend Jou was duelling someone - obviously winning by the looks of it as Jou had a huge grin plastered on his face.

Yuugi walked closer and as he reached the table, Jou called out his last attack.

"I attack you directly with my Panther Warrior, which means I win." Jou said, his honey-brown eyes shining with mirth as he took away the last of his opponent's life points.

His opponent groaned at losing again, but shook Jou's hand to congratulate him before walking away to find someone else to duel with or go home.

Jou turned to his friend to see not only Teana, but also Yuugi standing there, "Hey Yuug, what's up?" he asked, the large smile still plastered to his face.

Yuugi shook his head, smiling at his friend, "I'm just fine, you won't believe what happened to me."

"What?" Teana asked, casting her ocean-blue eyes over him questioningly.

"Well, I was walking through town today, just looking for something to eat. When I spotted a cart with bread and tried to take a loaf without the merchant noticing, those guards saw me. They chased me half way through town. I ran into an alley trying to get rid of them, but crashed into someone." Yuugi started.

"So da guards finally got ya?" Jou asked worriedly and wondering how his pal had gotten away.

"Yeah, they did. But then the person who I crashed into started to rant at the guards to distract them, while his friend saved me. He somehow threw the guard into a wall…" Yuugi voice trailed off as he thought back to that point. Yami had saved him by sending some sort of shockwave of shadows at the guard holding him... but he still didn't understand what it was or how he had conjured it up.

"And then what?" Teana asked curiously.

"Well the person who saved me grabbed my hand and started running." Yuugi lightly blushed at the holding hands part, but tried to fight it down as hard as he could.

"And you escaped? Wow, who were they?" Teana asked.

"Their names are Yami and Seto. They're really nice from what I've seen of them." Yuugi replied, smiling brightly.

"Hope we see dem around. We need ta repay em for gettin' ya back." Jou said as he ruffled Yuugi's hair playfully.

Yuugi glared mildly as Jou smiled innocently at him, "I give up, you're hopeless Jou." Yuugi shook his head, "But I've got to get home. I've got a big day tomorrow."

"I still can't believe you want ta work at da palace." Jou snorted.

"I have to; I don't want to be a thief for the rest of my life." Yuugi admitted, "Well I'll see you tomorrow guys."

Teana and Jou said their goodbyes as Yuugi left the building walking back to his house.

'_I hope I see you again tomorrow.' _he thought as his mind went back to Yami. Although most of his saviour had been cloaked, just the piercing crimson eyes had been enough for Yuugi's heart to start beating faster, the deep voice wasn't really helping either.

Yuugi shook his head, trying to rid his mind of his thoughts, but was unsuccessful, _'I give up…_' he thought as he entered his house.


	3. Chapter 2: New friends

**--: 2 :-  
New friends **

Atemu awoke to someone banging on his door the next morning. Casting a look outside, he could see that Ra hadn't even risen completely, and got up in a cranky mood. He opened the door to see Seth standing behind it and gave his cousin an annoyed look, "What is it?"

"You might want to take a look in the throne room." Seth said, unfazed by Atemu's mood and snappish tone, "Your father is appointing new servants and one of them looks awfully familiar."

Atemu looked at his friend strangely, his anger slowly dying down. A new servant that looked familiar? What was Seth talking about?

He quickly dressed himself, and followed Seth into the throne room. As soon as they had entered, Atemu saw what Seth had been talking about. One of the new servants had spiky tri-coloured hair and was wearing a dirty grey robe with a purple sash around his waist.

'_Yuugi!'_ was the first thing that shot through Atemu's head, half of him being glad at seeing the other, the other half horrified for the same reason.

He looked at the little angel in disbelief, and then stared at Seth again, "No way." he whispered.

Seth just nodded, "It's him."

"This can't be happening. If he recognizes us, we're doomed!" Atemu whispered, panic filling his eyes and voice. It was true that he wanted to annoy his father and create chaos, but he didn't want to let him _know_ he was doing it. This was going to get Seth and him into a lot of trouble.

"Do you think he'll recognize us?" Atemu asked nervously.

"I don't think so, not by looks anyway. He didn't recognize us as the Prince and High Priest in the city," Seth said, "but he might recognize us by voice."

"So if we just don't speak for the rest of our lives we'll be safe? I guess our problem is solved then." Atemu said sarcastically, giving his cousin a mild glare.

Seth rolled his eyes, "Would you stop joking!" he growled.

"Not until we have a good solution." Atemu said turning around, "I'm going back to my room so he won't recognize me."

"And you're leaving me here!" Seth growled.

"Do what you want." Atemu muttered as he walked towards his room. As he was about to exit the throne room however, he heard his father call out for him.

"Atemu, glad you're awake. Come over here and meet your new slave." Aknunkanon said seemingly in a good mood for a change. It seemed the Pharaoh had gotten over the incident of yesterday quicker than Atemu had expected.

Atemu let out a sigh before turning around and walking towards his father, mentally praying that Yuugi wouldn't recognize him.

"Who is it?" he grumbled as he stopped next to his father.

Atemu's heart stopped as he saw his father pointing at the one boy that could get him into trouble big time.

"Him." Aknunkanon said, pointing at Yuugi.

Atemu saw Yuugi stare at him with wide shocked eyes, before quickly turning his gaze back to the ground, _'Why? Why me?'_

"You!" Atemu's father called to one of the other servants, "Show him where everything is and then bring him to my son's quarters!"

The servant quickly complied and led Yuugi out of the throne room, glad to be away from the Pharaoh and his moods.

"Can I go now?" Atemu growled, already turning to walk away.

"Yes, but make sure to be ready in a few hours, I want you with me in the meeting this time so don't even think about hiding again." Aknunkanon said, a silent warning in his voice before turning his attention back to the servants.

Atemu smirked as he walked out of the throne room. He'd make sure to get out of the palace before the meeting started so he could avoid it as he always did.

He entered his room, and saw Seth sitting on his bed, "What did your father want?" Seth asked.

Atemu sighed, "He appointed my new servant." he said, closing the door behind him.

Seth raised an eyebrow at the look of defeat in his friend's eyes, "Don't tell me that it's…" his voice trailed off at the thought, not wanting to even think about the option of Yuugi being Atemu's newest servant.

Atemu just nodded. "Yuugi." he finished simply, saying it out loud only making it more real.

Seth groaned, "Great, just great."

There was a knock on the door, and Atemu sighed, "That'll probably be him." he opened the door to indeed reveal an at the ground staring Yuugi.

"Come on in." Atemu said, stepping aside so Yuugi could enter. He stared at the little one as Yuugi looked around the room with wide eyes, "Come on Seth, we better go so he can clean up." Atemu ripped his eyes away reluctantly, and starting to walk out of the room.

Seth nodded and followed Atemu out of the room. "So what now?" he asked when the two were safely in the hallway with the door to the prince's room closed.

"Well there's a meeting later on so I'm getting out of palace."

Seth chuckled lightly, "Ever thought of attending the meetings instead of sneaking away every time?"

Atemu gave him an incredulous look, "Are you nuts? I'll have to do that enough as soon as I become Pharaoh so I'd like to skip out on it as long as I can."

"So are you going to the city again?" Seth asked. You could see a bit of jealousy in his icy cerulean orbs, and hear it in the tone he used as he spoke.

Atemu nodded, ignoring the obviously jealousy and deciding not to tease his friend about it... too much, "Yeah and I'm leaving right now, have fun at the meeting."

Seth glared mildly at the smirking Prince as Atemu walked towards the garden to change. He sighed as he went back to his own room to get ready for the meeting later that day.

Atemu quickly changed and walked to the town. Looking around for some fun, he didn't watch where he was going and bumped into someone.

Looking up to see who he had hit and to apologize, he saw a boy at about the same age as he was with thick blonde hair and honey-brown eyes looking at him. He was wearing the same type robes as Yuugi with a dark blue sash around his waist. The robes were – like Yuugi's – extremely dirty and you could hardly imagine them ever being white.

"Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." Atemu said, smiling as he pulled the cap of the cloak over his head some more so the other wouldn't see the trademark tri-coloured hair.

"It's okay, I wasn't really payin' attention either. Da name's Jounouchi but call me Jou." the blonde said as he held out his hand.

Atemu took the hand and shook it, "I'm Yami, nice to meet you."

"Likewise." Jou said before a girl with brown hair reaching just above her shoulders and ocean-blue eyes ran towards them, stopping next to Jou and panting slightly. She was also wearing dirty robes, only hers seemed to have been brown at one point, though they looked black by now. She had a brown sash matching the colour of her hair around her waist, and you could see that she had a slim body.

"There you are Jou, where'd you go?" she asked, looking half suspicious, half curious.

"Don't worry about me Teana! Man, ya sound like my deceased mother." Jou muttered, receiving a glare in reply.

Hearing a soft chuckle, Teana turned and looked at Atemu, "And who is this?" she asked, her blue eyes once more shining in curiosity.

"Dis is Yami, we sorta bumped into each other 'cause neither of us were payin' attention." Jou said before turning to Atemu, "Dis is a friend of mine, Teana." Jou introduced Atemu and Teana to each other.

Atemu shook Teana's hand and smiled at her, receiving a smile from the girl in return.

"I haven't seen you around here before, are you new?" Teana asked.

"Not really, I've been around for a while but I don't get out much; I have too much to do at home." Atemu replied, mentally adding some new ways to kill his father to the already very long list.

"Well have ya met anyone else?" Jou asked.

"Well, I met a boy named Yuugi yesterday, but I had to go home shortly after that so I didn't get to do anything with him." Atemu said. Again the not so innocent ideas flashed through his head, but he grudgingly pushed them aside, thinking it wouldn't be a good thing to start daydreaming in the middle of a conversation.

"So you know Yuugi? Hey wait a second, are you the guy that helped him get away from the guards yesterday?" Teana asked, eyes wide with shock.

Atemu nodded shyly, "Yeah, it was nothing really."

"Nothin'? Dat was amazin'! He told us you somehow blasted da guy holdin' him into a wall! I wish I could've seen dat." Jou exclaimed, waving his arms in the air to emphasize his point.

Atemu shrugged, "He looked like he could use some help. Do you know him well?"

"Yeah, he's one of our best friends. We sort of form a group together." Teana replied.

"So you wanna hang out with us? Yuugi'll come later 'cause he had to go to da palace first. He somehow got dis crazy idea to go work dere. Who would want dat! I mean, da Pharaoh's a complete jerk!" Jou muttered.

Smirking at the fact that his new friend obviously didn't like his father, Atemu nodded, "That's what most people say about him. So what do you want to do?"

"We were headin' to da duellin' ground. Do ya duel?" Jou asked.

"Yeah." Atemu said, "But I don't have my deck with me right now."

"We can walk by your house to get it." Teana offered.

"No, I'll watch you guys duel and bring it the next time." Atemu said shaking his head, mentally shuddering at the image of Jou and Teana's shocked expressions at finding out he was really the prince.

Jou shrugged, "Whatever ya want. Come on."

Atemu followed Jou and Teana, trying to remember the way so he could find it again later, until they stopped in front of a large building. As they entered, Atemu could hear other people duelling each other, and he looked around in amazement at what the so-called 'duelling grounds' looked like, and how many teens and adults seemed to go there.

Seeing the look of awe on Atemu's face, Jou chuckled, "You okay?"

Nodding, Atemu looked around some more, "Yes, I just didn't expect this."

Atemu spend the rest of the day in the building looking at people duelling both Jou and Teana. He had to admit that Jou was a good duellist, and although Teana was a lot worse, she was pretty decent as well. He made a mental note to bring his deck the next time so he could duel the blonde, as well as to drag Seth with him so he could see how Jou did against him.

After being there for several hours, he noticed Yuugi walking in. _'Damn! How could I lose track of time so easily. I have to get out of here before he sees me.'_

"Hey Yuug! Over here!" Jou called out.

'_Too late.'_ Atemu mentally slapped himself before putting on a smile and hoping for the best. It wasn't like he didn't want to be around his little angel anyway, quite the opposite actually.

Yuugi smiled as he walked towards them, but looked surprised as he noticed Atemu sitting at the same table as Jou and Teana, "Hey, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"What? Now I can't even hang around here?" Atemu pouted, faking to be hurt and suddenly looking very cute.

Yuugi held back his laugh – as well as a blush - at the sight of Atemu pouting, it looked really cute. The blush was proving impossible to get rid of though.

"I bumped into him on da way here, and we've been hangin' out." Jou explained, "So how was your day?"

Yuugi shrugged, "I was appointed as the servant, or as the Pharaoh put it, slave of Prince Atemu."

Atemu mentally growled at the word 'slave'. He hated it when his father called the servants slaves. They were all human beings so the Pharaoh had no right to speak so lowly of others.

"Whoa! So ya get to be around da Prince huh? What's he like?" Jou asked curiously, "Is he like his father?"

Yuugi shrugged again, "He left together with the High Priest when I came into his room, and I didn't see him after that. I did however hear someone yelling furiously because apparently, the Prince had sneaked out again so he wouldn't have to attend a meeting with the Pharaoh and his advisors."

Atemu grinned, "Really? How mad was the Pharaoh?" he asked, loving to hear about his father getting pissed off at him.

"Very mad from what I could hear. He was at the other side of the palace and I could still make out his words." Yuugi said.

Atemu grinned even wider. He just loved pissing off his father.

"So you really didn't get a good look at the Prince?" Teana asked, slight disappointment showing in her voice.

"Well when I was appointed he came in and I got a quick look at him." Yuugi said, "It's really true what they say about him and me."

"What do they say?" Atemu asked curiously.

"That we look alike." Yuugi said, "Though if you ask me, he's the handsome and sexy version." he added blushing bright crimson. Atemu quickly turned his head away to conceal his own blush that was quickly growing on his cheeks. Yuugi thought he was sexy? Oh great, he was never going to get that blush off his face.

"So how is the duelling going?" Yuugi asked, trying to change the subject before his friends could start teasing him about what he had just said about the Prince. He saw Jou and Teana both smirking at him, but they let it go for now.

"I've won all my matches today." Jou said, a proud grin plastered to his face again.

"I only won five out of twenty." Teana muttered, obviously not as happy as Jou was.

"And what about you Yami? Do you duel?" Yuugi asked.

"Yeah, but I didn't bring my deck. I promise to bring both my deck and Seto the next time though. He'll love being able to beat others since he just can't win against me. It really ticks him off." Atemu smirked thinking of all the times he had beaten his best friend.

"So you're a good duellist?" Yuugi asked.

"I guess so, yeah." Atemu replied smiling, "But that's really up to you guys to decide when you duel me the next time."

"Now you're talking, I can't wait!" Jou said, pumping his fist up in the air in enthusiasm.

"Well I better get home before my father freaks out even more than he's probably already doing right now." Atemu said.

"Will you be here tomorrow?" Teana asked.

"I'll see what I can do. And if I can, I'll bring Seto with me." Atemu said smirking before getting up and leaving.

As he entered the palace – dressed in his royal attire of course - he could already hear his father's furious voice echoing through the palace halls. He winced as he heard all the swears and other things that his father was currently yelling at all the servants and guards. He silently tried to get to his room so he could avoid his father for the day, hoping that he would have cooled down a bit by tomorrow, but no such luck as he was caught by one of the guards and brought to the Pharaoh.

As Atemu listened to his father yelling at him about responsibility, he could only think of two things: his new friends and how much fun he was going to have tomorrow. He barely even heard his father yelling at him, let alone actually understanding what the raging Pharaoh was saying, but snapped back to reality just in time to hear the last part of his father's speech.

"IF YOU DO THIS TO ME ONE MORE TIME I SWEAR I WILL CURSE YOU TO ANUBIS PERSONALLY! NOW GET OUT OF MY SIGHT AND GO TO YOUR ROOM!" Aknunkanon yelled.

Atemu just turned around and walked to his room. Like his father would ever back that threat up. He was used to getting threatened by his father, but sadly enough for the Pharaoh, Atemu also knew the other would never do anything to him.

Upon entering the room, he saw Seth lying on the royally loathed bed, "Had fun at the meeting?" he asked mockingly.

Seth looked at him with a grin on his face, "Actually, yeah. It was a lot of fun seeing your father yell at everyone and everything just because you weren't there. I think they could hear him at the other side of the palace."

"They could." Atemu said smirking and quickly told Seth what he had done that day, and what Yuugi had told him - leaving out the part where Yuugi had called him sexy of course.

"So you're going there again tomorrow?" Seth asked, "Even though your father would seriously get so mad that he would probably put a curse on you?"

Atemu smirked, "Like he could ever do that, I'm not afraid of him. Besides, I want to see how good Jou really is. And guess what? I'm dragging you with me to duel him."

Seth hesitated. He wanted to go with Atemu of course - it sounded like a lot of fun - but what if the Pharaoh found out? They would both be in a lot of trouble.

Knowing that his competitive side would eventually win, he sighed and looked at Atemu again, "Fine, but if we get into trouble and your father kills us, I'll never speak to you again."

Atemu smirked, "Even when you're dead you're going to hold a grudge against me, huh? Well we won't get caught so don't worry."

Seth rolled his eyes, "I hope not. Well, see you in the morning; I'm going to bed."

"Me too. Good night, Seth." Atemu said as he let out a yawn.

"What time are we going?" Seth asked before he got up walked towards the door where he waited for Atemu to answer.

"Let's say we leave around noon, right after lunch. Then my father will have seen us and it's not like he ever needs anything from us until dinner." Atemu suggested.

"Okay, but just keep in mind that if he has something to do for me, I won't be able to stay that long." Seth said. Atemu nodded as Seth left the room and went to his own chambers.

Atemu quickly changed and lay down in his bed, thinking of tomorrow. He glanced at his deck and smiled, _'We're going to have a lot of fun together tomorrow.' _he though as he closed his eyes and fell asleep with a smile on his face; something that hadn't happened in a long time.


	4. Chapter 3: Meet Jounouchi and Teana

**Wow, when I posted this fic I thought I'd get a lot of bad comment but so far I'm only getting good feedback. Thanx to all my reviewers, I love you all! Anyway, here's the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy.**  
**

* * *

**

**--: 3 :--  
Meet Jounouchi and Teana**

"Come on Seth! Would you hurry up!" Atemu snapped irritated at his best friend as they walked to the duel ground in the city.

"Hey, you know where it is so I have to follow you while having no idea which way to go! Now stop nagging me to go faster and slow down yourself!" Seth bit back.

"I just want to get there fast," Atemu muttered, slowing down his pace just a little so Seth could catch up with him.

"I know but you hit everybody the way you're walking, and I'd like to avoid most of these people. Have you noticed all the glares you've been getting?" Seth muttered as he finally caught up with Atemu.

"Yeah but I don't really care. What are they going do to me? Go to the Pharaoh and whine?" Atemu smirked, "My father would have them thrown in some dungeon or prison without even listening to what they had to say to him."

Seth rolled his eyes, "Just go a little slower and watch where you're going would you?"

"Fine," Atemu muttered as he turned a corner, not paying attention to the people there, and bumping in to a few. Seth shook his head defeatedly.

"Are you sure this is the right way?"Seth asked.

"Not completely but I think so," Atemu said as he got a glare from Seth. "What! I've only been there once!" he defended himself.

"Great, we're lost," Seth grumbled and rumbed his temple to try and lessen the upcoming headache.

Atemu glared at him before looking ahead again and smirking, "Oh yeah? Well if we're lost, then what is that building over there?" he asked, pointing at what he knew was the duel ground.

Seth looked at it and shrugged, "How am i supposed to know."

"That's where we're going Seth; the duel ground. Now remember; I'm Yami, you're Seto."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. You've only said this a million times so I think I'll remember. Besides, it's not like I want to get caught or anything. I don't have a death wish like you."

"I don't have a death wish!" Atemu glared, "I just want to have some fun. It's not like there's any fun to have around the palace."

"True. But at least we don't break any rules by being bored," Seth replied with a sigh and a sarcastic eye-roll.

Atemu rolled his eyes, "Yeah, whatever. Can you try to be a bit more cheery Seth? You're ruining my mood."

They entered the building and Atemu immediately spotted Jou in the crowd. He smiled and dragged Seth through the crowd - Seth apologizing to everyone on the way for hitting them - and went over to Jou.

Jou was in the middle of a duel against a kid that looked about 2 years younger than him, and Jou was about to win.

"And now I attack you wit' my Gearfried to finish ya off!" Jou said grinning madly, "Oh yeah! I'm good!" he exclaimed.

"Nah, you just have a big ego," Atemu mocked.

Jou turned around to faceAtemu and smiled, "Hey Yami, glad ya could come," he then noticed the - at the moment - extrememely bored looking Seth, "Is dis your friend?"he asked.

Atemu nodded, "Yeah, Jou, this is my best friend and cousin Seto, Seto, this is Jou," Atemu introduced.

"Nice to meet ya," Jou said as he held his hand up for Seth to take.

Seth just nodded and took Jou's hand.

"Where're Teana and Yuugi?" Atemu asked, looking around as he tried to find the two.

"Teana's duellin' over dere, she's losin' by da way, and Yuugi has to work at da palace again remember? He'll be here after dinner." Jou answered.

They started off to where Teana was duelling and as they got to the table where she was sitting, saw that she had just lost the duel. She smiled at Atemu, but gave Seth a questioning look as she had never seen him before.

"Hey Teana, I'd like you to meet my best friend Seto, Seto, this is Teana," Atemu said.

"We've heard a lot about you," Teana said as she shook Seth's hand with a warm smile.

Seth raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? Then I suppose they can only be bad things because Yami likes to torture me a lot."

Jou laughed, "He likes to torture everybody if ya ask me," he said.

Atemu pouted, "Hmpf, I don't always torture people," he said, crossing his arms.

Seth huffed, "Yeah right. Shall we ask your father about that?" he mocked, smirking as he saw Atemu's reaction..

Atemu cringed, "No, let's not."

"Ya don't like your father, Yami?" Jou asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Let's not go there Jou," Atemu said, glaring a little bit to no one in particular as he though of his father.

Jou blinked at Atemu's reaction, but then just shrugged, "Whatever ya want, Yami."

Atemu smirked, already forgetting all thoughts about his father and going back to the good mood he'd been in earlier, "What I want is to see you duel Seto here."

Seth raised an eyebrow, "You want to let him duel me? Why? You already know the outcome. I've never lost to anyone except you."

"Really? How many duels have ya had?" Jou asked impressed.

"A lot, and against a lot of different people," Seth answered.

"He's a good duellist cous; trust me," Atemu reassured.

"Trust you?" Seth mocked, "If I'd do that, then I'd be dead by now."

Atemu rolled his eyes, "I don't get us into _that_ much trouble, now would you just duel Jou!"

"Whatever," Seth saidas he looked back at Jou, "Ready too lose?"

Jou raised an eyebrow, "You're really confident. Well we'll just see who's goin' ta win dis duel."

They sat down at one of the tables and shuffled their decks. Atemu sat down next to Seth and leaned closer to him, "You know you can't use those Blue Eyes White Dragon cards right? Even though this isn't a shadow game, everybody knows only the High Priest has them. It would be like me using my Dark Magician."

Seth rolled his eyes, "I'm not stupid, I know I can't use them."

Jou: 4000  
Seth: 4000

"I'll start." Jou said as he drew his first card, "I summon Alligator Sword (1500/1200) in attack mode and end my turn."

"That's all?" Seth smirked and drew a card, "I summon Luster Dragon (1900/1600) in attack mode and destroy your Alligator Sword. Then I put down 1 face-down and end my turn." Seth said.

Jou: 3600  
Seth: 4000

Jou growled as he moved his Alligator Sword to the graveyard and drew a new card from his deck, "I summon Little Wing Guard (1400/1800) in attack mode and activate my Graceful Dice." he said as he got a die from his pocket, "Now my monster's attack will be multiplied by da number dat I roll." he continued smirking. Jou threw the die and it landed on a two, "Ha! Now my Wing Guard's attack is doubled givin' it enough power ta crush your Luster Dragon!"

Seth smirked and flipped his face-down cards, "I activate Ring of Destruction. Now your monster is destroyed and we both lose points equal to its attack."

Jou: 800  
Seth: 1200

Jou stared at Seth's trap card in shock, but removed his Little Wing Guard from the field, "I put down one face-down and end my turn." he said, wondering where Seth had gotten such a powerful and rare trap card.

"Thought so." Seth said and drew a card, "I summon Vorse Raider (1900/1200) in attack mode, and attack your life-points with Luster Dragon." Seth said.

"Nuh uh, I play Scapegoat." Jou said as he flipped his face-down card. He placedfour sheep tokens on his side of the field to protect his life points from the monsters on Seth's side of the field.

Seth just shrugged, "Then I attack two of those tokens with both my Luster Dragon and my Vorse Raider."

Jou drew a card and smirked, "I summon Panther Warrior (2000/1600) in attack mode. Den I sacrifice one of my Scapegoat tokens so it can attack your Vorse Raider."

Jou: 800  
Seth: 1100

Seth removed his Vorse Raider from the field with a look of indifference, "My turn." he drew a card and frowned, "I change my Luster Dragon to defense position and end my turn."

Jou grinned and drew a card, "I summon Battle Warrior (700/1000) and den attack your Luster Dragon wit' my Panther Warrior by sacrificing my last Scapegoat token." Seth removed his Luster Dragon from the field, "Den I attack you directly with my Battle Warrior. Last I'll put down one face-down and end my turn."

Jou: 800  
Seth: 400

Atemu stared at his cousin in shock and disbelief, was Jouactually going to beat Seth? There was no way!

Seth drew his next card and smirked, Atemu glanced at the card in Seth's hand and sighed, "I summon X-Head Cannon (1800/1500) and attack your Battle Warrior." he said simply.

"I activate Skull Dice. Da attack of your monster is divided by da number dat I roll." Jou once again rolled the die. It landed on atwo again.

"Guess that's not enough to destroy my monster." Seth said smirking, "I put down one face-down and end my turn."

Jou: 400  
Seth: 400

Jou drew a card, "I summon Baby Dragon (1200/700) and attack your X-Head Cannon wit' it." Jou declared.

"Then I activate my face-down card, Attack Guidance Armour. Now your attack is redirected to a new target on the field, and I say the new target is going to be your Panther Warrior." Seth said as he flipped the card.

"But… den my life-points…"

"Drop to zero." Seth finished smirking.

Jou: 0  
Seth: 400

Teana was staring at the field in shock and disbelief. There weren't that many duellists that could beat Jou, and even then it was mostly because he didn't get the right cards, but now… Jou had drawn good cards and, had still lost.

"Wow…" Jou said but then smiled at Seth, "Ya were right, ya are a good duellist."

"I know." Seth said, smirking at which Atemu rolled his eyes.

"Don't be so overconfident cous." he said smirking himself, "Or do you want me to beat that new reputation of yours into the ground by beating you."

Seth glared mildly at Atemu, "Now who's being the overconfident one huh?" he taunted.

Atemu grinned, "I'm not overconfident, I just know I'm the best." he said innocently.

Jou shook his head, "Overconfident wit' a huge ego." he said.

"Are we talking about Seto?" Atemu asked smirking.

"Boys, shut up!" Teana suddenly snapped. All three looked at her, "Thank you. What I wanted to point out is that Yuugi just walked in and is looking for us."

"But, he's supposed to be at da palace." Jou pointed out. All three boys looked at the entrance of the building and - like Teana had said - saw Yuugi looking for them.

Yuugi looked around the duel ground and spotted his friends at a table. He could see that Yami and Seto were both there, "Hey guys." he said as he reached the small group.

"Hey Yuug, why aren't ya at da palace?" Jou asked curiously.

"Well, the Prince is missing again and it's not very safe to stick around there right now."

"Did the Pharaoh do anything to you?" Teana asked worriedly.

"Not much, just yell a lot." Yuugi said shrugging, "I think I'll be going deaf in that place if this happens too much."

Seth could already see Atemu's eyes narrowing in anger and flashing dangerously. A dim light – though it was only seen if you were looking for it – shone under the cloak that Atemu was wearing, "A-Yami, calm down." Seth hissed, hoping only his cousin would hear.

Atemu tried his best to calm himself enough so at least the Millennium Puzzle would stop glowing. He managed to do so after a few seconds, though he was still furious that his father had been yelling at Yuugi.

"But why was he yelling at you? It's not like you have anything to say about the Prince, right?" Atemu asked, trying to sound as calm as he could.

"He said I was supposed to go wherever the Prince went or something." Yuugi said, "But the Prince was already gone when I entered his chamber."

'_Note to self: kill father.'_ Atemu thought, _'Nobody does that to _my _Yuugi.'_

Suddenly, a group of guards burst into the building. Seth and Atemu both froze as theynaturally assumed they were caught, "Damn it." Jou cursed as he pulled Seth up and started to drag him out of the building as Yuugi did the sameto Atemu.

"What's going on?" Atemu asked, "Why are the palace guards here?"

"They come here once in a while to find good duellists to play against. If you lose a duel you're dragged back to the palace with them. None of the people who've been taken away like that have ever been seen again." Yuugi said.

"And if you win?" Atemu asked, already grinning at the chance of beating a couple of guards and humiliating them.

"Nobody's ever done that before but knowing them, you'd get killed on the spot." Yuugi answered.

Deciding that that wouldn't really be a good thing, Atemu's grin faded and he concentrated on getting out of the building.

Everybody in the building was trying to get away from the guards in full panic mode, and Yuugi and Atemu got separated from the rest of the group. Just before they could make it out of the building, a guard managed to grab Yuugi's robe and pull him back, "Guess what, you're our victim for the day." the guard said smirking.

Atemu - who had felt Yuugi being pulled back as their hands had been entwined – turned around to see one of the guards holding Yuugi's arm quite painfully. Yuugi's face was contorted in pain as he tried to get away from the guard but again, to no avail.

Atemu's eyes once again narrowed and the Millennium Puzzle reacted to the anger by shinning dimly under Atemu's cloak, though it was better visible this time.Atemu quickly ran back to Yuugi and - with a little help from the shadow magic in his Puzzle – ripped Yuugi away from the guard that was holding him. He pulled the slightly shocked boy behind him as he glared daggers at the guards – who subconsciously took a few steps back at the intense stare.

"Nobody touches _my_ Yuugi." Atemu hissed. Although he really wanted to show these idiotic guards who he really was and send them to the deepest dungeon of the palace – either that or send them to the Shadow Realm - he resisted the urge and quickly took advantage of the temporary shock of the guard by taking Yuugi's hand and running away as fast as they could together.

Yuugi blushed at the words his – as he had come to accept it – crush, _'Did he really just say _my_ Yuugi…'_ His blush deepened as he felt the other grab his hand as they started running out of the building, leaving the shocked guards behind them.

After they ran for a while and Atemu was sure that the guards weren't following them, they stopped in one of the many dark alleys of the city.

"Are you okay?" Atemu asked, casting worried crimson eyes over Yuugi's bruised wrist. He reluctantly let go of Yuugi's hand which he had been holding the entire time.

Yuugi nodded slowly, though his wrist was really hurting, "Yeah, I guess." he muttered, "Thanks for saving me there but they could've gotten you too."

Atemu grinned and pulled Yuugi closer to him, "Don't worry about me, Little One; I can take care of myself." he said as he nuzzled Yuugi's hair, smirking as he saw Yuugi blushing like mad. He wrapped his arms around Yuugi's waist and pulled the other's smaller body against his own.

Yuugi's face burned up even more as he felt Atemu's arms snake around his waist, pulling him even closer. One side of him was telling him to break free and run for his life, saying that he didn't really know his saviour from yesterday. But the other half of his mind was telling him to stay put, and was even begging for the other to go on.

Yuugi decided that since he knew the other was stronger than him anyway, he would listen to the latter part of his mind – though he tried to ignore the little voice that was begging for more which proved quite difficult as his mind was already racing with not so innocent ideas.

Atemu glanced down, _'Damn that Seth for being right about me liking Yuugi… If he ever finds out about this, I'll never hear the end of it.'_he mused as he continued to nuzzle Yuugi's hair, very pleased at the fact that his Little One had relaxed in his arms.

Hearing footsteps coming closer and already recognizing his cousin's voice,Atemu reluctantly let go of Yuugi who - like himself – glanced in the direction of where the voices where coming from.

Yuugi was just about to melt into a puddle as his crush continued to nuzzle his hair whenhe heard voices coming closer. He almost wanted to kill whoever was coming for his crush had stopped nuzzling him, and had taken a step back. He glanced in the direction where the voices were coming from, thinking he recognized one of the voices.

"There you two are, we were worried that the guards had gotten to you." Teana said as she, Jou and Seth turned the corner and spotted the two.

"Well, they sort of did get us." Yuugi said, trying to hide the blush that was still very much visible, "But Yami saved me."

Seth narrowed his eyes on Atemu who shook his head as if saying: 'no, I did not send them to the Shadow Realm', though Seth could tell from the look Atemu gave him next, that the other would've loved to do so.

"So what're we gonna do now? We can't go back to da duel ground 'cause da guards usually stay dere for a while." Jou said.

"Jou's right." Yuugi admitted, "Anybody have an idea?" as he said this, he pushed the voice that was calling out the not so innocent ideas back into his head, trying his best to ignore it and fight off the new blush that was coming up as his mind was showing him some things he and the taller boy could do.

"Well we could just hang around and see if there's anything to do in town." Teana suggested, "It's not like we have anything else to do anyway."

They all agreed and just lounged around for the rest of the day. Seth - of course - didn't agree with everything they did – as Yuugi, Jou, Teana and Atemu just stole food when they got hungry – but kept it to himself and eventually Atemu got him to do it too.

As Ra started to set, signalling for Atemu and Seth to get the hell back to the palace or they'd be late for dinner, Seth and Atemu said their goodbyes to the group and promised to see them later.

Atemu grinned at Seth as soon as they were out of sight, "I guess I got you infected with the 'Thief-virus' after all, huh?"

"Oh shut up and come on or your father will have our heads." Seth snapped half-heartedly, "What did you do with those guards in the duel ground anyway?" he asked.

Atemu shrugged, "Nothing really. One of them pulled Yuugi back and I just ripped Yuugi away from them using a bit of shadow magic. They were so shocked that it gave me the chance to run away with Yuugi."

Seth grinned, "You were standing awfully close to that little look-alike of yours when we found you two."

"So?" Atemu tried to sound indifferently but the slight blush on his cheeks gave him away.

"I knew it." Seth said smirking, "You like him. Just admit it."

Atemu let out a defeated sigh. He knew he couldn't keep denying it, "Fine, I like him. You happy now?" he muttered.

Seth's smirk widened, "Overjoyed."

"But you like Jou." Atemu suddenly countered, "I saw the looks you were giving him today."

Seth raised an eyebrow, "I do not like that Mutt." he stated. Over the day, Seth had started calling Jou a Mutt for some reason unknown to Atemu. Seth had been doing it already when they found him and Yuugi in the alley, so he guessed something had happened while they were separated. Jou went nuts every time Seth used this little nickname of his, which only made it more fun for Seth of course.

"Sure, keep telling yourself that." Atemu said smirking.

Seth glared at him but didn't say anything as they entered the palace gardens at that moment to change back into their royal attire.

As they changed, they could already hear Aknunkanon yelling bloody murder at everyone for – to them - no reason at all.

"We're in trouble." Seth stated.

"Mostly me I think." Atemu corrected himas theywalked into the main hall.

They entered the dinning room and as soon as Aknunkanon spotted them,the manglared daggers at his son, "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL DAY!" he yelled.

Atemu looked at him indifferently while sitting down together with Seth, "None of your concern."

"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU AND YOUR SNEAKING AWAY FROM ME ALL THE TIME! FROM NOW ON I WANT SOMEONE WITH YOU AT ALL TIMES! AS SOON AS THAT SLAVE OF YOURS GETS HERE TOMORROW, HE'LL BE LIKE YOUR SHADOW AND REPORT EVERYTHING YOU DO TO ME!" Aknunkanon yelled before storming out of the throne room.

Atemu stared at his father's retreating form in slight shock, _'Damn it. If Yuugi has to act like my shadow all day… I can't sneak away without him getting punished for not paying attention' _"Damn it!"

* * *

**Now I know I used anime rules in the duel as I used some wrong effects and sacrifeced Scapegoat and all, but it just worked better this way. I also know I'm gonna get complains about Seth having Blue Eyes White Dragon cards and Atemu having a Dark Magician card. I know full well how these monsters were really created in themanga, but this is an AU for a reason so don't even try to comment on it.  
Now that that's said, I'll leave you people alone so you can all review my oh so wonderful story. R&R people!**


	5. Chapter 4: Attack of the Mages

**Okay shock people, the actual plot of this fic is starting in this chap (and it only took me 4 chaps! 5 if you count the prologue! WGOOOOOT!) Hope you all enjoy this chap (and I know a lot of you will °smirks evilly°) Also, thanx for all the reviews I've been getting. I really do love them. Now I'll stop bugging you so you can all R&R!

* * *

**

--: 4 :--  
**Attack of the Mages**

Yuugi stepped into the palace a bit nervous the next morning. He hoped the Pharaoh wouldn't be mad anymore – his ears were still hurting a bit from the day before.

"You! Slave! Come here!" a harsh voice ordered thatYuugi immediately recognized as the voiceof Pharaoh Aknunkanon's.The short teensighed and walked towards the King with his eyes cast to the ground, knowing this just couldn't end well.

"Yes my Pharaoh?" he asked, bowing before the 'great' King.

He felt the Pharaoh looking at him in disgust and wanted nothing more than to just sink into the ground and never resurface again, Sadly enough Ra wasn't as merciful on him as he would like.

"Father, stop giving him that look!" an other voice spoke. The voice sounded familiar to Yuugi for some reason and for a second, he thought he heard Yami speak; itseemed to bethe same deep voice that made shivers run down Yuugi's spine. AsYuugi glanced up however, he saw Prince Atemu glaring at his father with harsh crimson eyes blazing in fury and hatred.

"Stay out of this Atemu." Aknunkanon hissed, his eyes ablaze as well only with anger and disaproval.

"Why? This is about me so I think I can interfere all I want." Atemu hissed back. Yuugi flinched at the hateful tone that was used between father and son.

Pharaoh Aknunkanon gave his son one last glare, before turning back to Yuugi and resuming the downgrading look, ignoring his son's glare completely.

"I want you to stay by my son at all times, do you understand?" he asked as if Yuugi was the dumbest person in the world - something Yuugi guessed the Pharaoh really did think, "I don't care how you do it, but I want you to be like his shadow! If he goes anywhere," he glared at Atemu once again, "where he's not supposed to go, tell me, or face the consequeses."

Yuugi nodded, "Yes your Majesty." he said before looking back at Atemu who was still glaring at his father. Surely if looks could've killed people, Pharaoh Aknunkanon would've died a horrible death by now.

Atemu's gaze turned to his little angel and immediately softened as he smiled, "Come on." he said before leaving the throne room followed by Yuugi.

"Don't worry about my father," Atemu spoke when he was sure that his father couldn't hear or see him anymore. He looked back to see Yuugi still staring at the ground nervously, "He won't do anything to you." _'I'll make sure of that.'_

Yuugi nodded, relaxing somewhat at the Prince's words, but still didn't look up; he knew it was disrespectful to look at one of the royals when he himself was nothing but a peasant.

"Atemu, would you hurry up and get your lazy ass over here." Yuugi blinked at the new voice, _'Seto?'_ he thought, but as he glanced up he saw the High Priest tapping his foot impatiently, giving the Prince an annoyed look.

"Would you relax?" Atemu growled. He was already thoroughly annoyed that he wouldn't be able to escape the palace from now on unless he wanted Yuugi to get into trouble – something he definitely didn't want – and Seth wasn't really helping at the moment.

Seth smirked as he saw Yuugi tailing behind his cousin, "I see your new shadow has arrived. No more sneaking away from meetings, huh?"

"Oh shut up. He just had to do this to me today! The day that there is a stupid meeting! Now I have to attend the damn thing." Atemu sighed in defeat.

"Too bad, now you'll finally get to see the boredom I'm faced with _every_ time."

Atemu sighed again and then turned to Yuugi. He didn't mind Yuugi hanging around him all the time – on the contrary – but now he couldn't sneak away from the meeting in a few hours unless he wanted Yuugi to get punished – and knowing his father it would be a harsh punishment at that, "You can look up you know, I'm sure the floor isn't all that interesting." Atamu said smiling softly.

Yuugi blushed and slowly looked up to see Atemu smiling at him. No glare, no look of disgust, no look that said: 'I'm-better-than-you-are´, just a friendly smile. Yuugi looked the Prince over a bit better, and almost gasped as he looked into crimson eyes. He could'vesworn thatthey were the same as Yami's, but that wasn't possible, was it?

Without either of them knowing it, Atemu and Yuugi had been staring at each other, completely forgetting the world around them. Seth however, had noticed, "If you two are done staring at each other," he began smirking, "then maybe we could go to your room Atemu. I don't feel like standing in this hallway all day." His smirk widened as Atemu glared at him, and Yuugi blushed while snapping his gaze back to the floor.

"Fine." Atemu said shortly and walked towards his chambers followed by both Yuugi and Seth.

* * *

"Would you stop doing that!" Seth growled as Atemu once again used his shadow magic to fool around with the other people attending the meeting they were currently in. The meeting had started a while back, and he could see that Atemu was thoroughly bored and definitely not paying attention. Seth could understand this, but using the shadow magic from the Puzzle just to amuse himself was pushing it a bit too far. He heard a soft giggle next to him and glanced aside to see Yuugi – who had been dragged into the meeting by Atemu saying that ifYuugi was to be his shadow, he had to go with him to the meeting as well – giggling as Atemu was apperently not only amusing himself, but his look-alike as well. 

Seth sighed. In the short period before the meeting, Atemu had already gotten Yuugi to loosen up and now he was even feeling comfortable enough to look at both of them all the time – although he still didn't say a lot. Seth had to hand it to his cousin, the other was damn good at getting Yuugi to laugh and just relax.

Atemu smirked as he saw Yuugi trying to hold back anohter fit of giggles so to stay quiet and not interrupt the meeting. He had been fooling around with all the people present at the meeting for a while now, and was actually having fun. The only thing that was bugging him – or should he say the only one – was Seth. His cousin kept trying to stop Atemu from using the magic in the Puzzle but Atemu wasn't really listening to him. This was the only way he wouldn't fall asleep right now and Yuugi was obviously having fun as well.

"Atemu, what do you think?" Atemu looked up at his father who was glaring at him, knowing his son hadn't been paying attention.

'_I think you should drop dead.'_ Atemu thought - mentally smirking at the thought - but chose not to voice it, "About what?" he asked, not even bothering to hide the bored tone in his voice.

Aknunkanon let out a desperate sigh, "About what we were discussing."

"That much I gathered but as you full well know, I wasn't paying attention so if you want my opinion just say what you were discussing." Atemu said annoyed.

Aknunkanon glared at his son, "Maybe you should pay attention if you want to know what we're talking about."

"But I don't want to know." Atemu stated calmly, "You might've forced me to start attending these meetings, but you can't force me to pay attention."

Aknunkanon glared even harsher but Atemu just returned the glare with even more force. The Pharaoh looked away after a few seconds and continued the meeting without asking Atemu anymore questions, knowing his son wouldn't answer them anyway.

When Atemu looked back in the direction of Yuugi and Seth, he saw that not only Yuugi was having trouble keeping quiet with laughter, but even Seth was chuckling softly.

"You're too much." Seth whispered, "He's going to have your head for that after the meeting."

"Nah, then we'll be long gone." Atemu said.

Seth shook his head, "I can't Atemu, I have things to do." he said sighing.

"Damn, will you be done after dinner?" Atemu asked, of course referring to when they would be able to sneak into the city again since Yuugi would be gone then.

"I don't know yet; I'll try." Seth answered. At that point Aknunkanon closed the meeting and everybody was free to leave. Atemu quickly grabbed Yuugi's hand and pulled him out of the room to avoid his father's wrath. He dragged Yuugi back to his room and didn't let go until he had locked the door.

"There, now try and get me." he said smirking at the door, a look of victory on his face.

Yuugi stared at Atemu. He had gotten used to the way Atemu spoke and acted towards his father, but he still didn't get where all that hatred came from. It also made him think of how Yami had spoken about his own father. The Prince and Yami seemed so similar... Yuugi was beginning to doubt his own sanity over this.

He watched as Atemu lay down on the bed, before the Prince motioned for him to sit down on the bed, "Come on, I don't bite or anything."

Yuugi hesitated for a second, but then walked over and sat down.

"Now then, since you haven't quite gotten this fact yet, you're allowed to speak freely." Atemu said smiling as Yuugi looked at him strangely, "What? I'm a human being like you."

"But… you're the Prince." Yuugi slowly said.

"So?" Atemu asked, raising an eyebrow, "Like being royalty is such a great thing." he muttered, "Anyway, as long as my father isn't around you can just speak freely to both me and Seth. Just watch out for my father because he'll have your head if you act disrespectful in any way while he's around." Yuugi nodded, "Good, then let's see what we can think of that's fun to do, and pisses off my father." Atemu said smirking.

"You really don't do anything unless it gets the Pharaoh angry, do you?" Yuugi asked giggling a bit.

Atamu'ssmirk widened, "Nope, not really. It's too much fun to see him go mad at me."

Both Yuugi and Atemu spend the rest of the afternoon thinking of – and even executing some – plans. At dinner Atemu could see his father had a headache from hell, _'Oh how I love to piss him off.'_

* * *

'_Damn my father for assigning Seth with more work.'_ Even in his mind his words sounded hateful. Atemu sighed as he entered the Duel Ground and his mood immediately changed. He already loved being here for 3 reasons;  
1. He could be himself here without having to worry about status,  
2. His new friends were mostly here and  
3. – this was the most important thing to him already – his little angel was here. 

He grinned as he spotted the small group of friends standing around a table, watching a duel between two random boys. AsAtemu approached them, Yuugi noticed him and waved him over.

"Hey Yami, where's Seto?" Teana asked after spotting him as well, "And were have you been all day?"

"Seto had stuff to do." Atemu answered, "And I couldn't get away from my father until just now."

"Is yer father dat bad Yam?" Jou asked, not taking his eyes off the duel.

"No, he's even worse." Atemu said with a hateful tone.

Yuugi blinked as he heard his new friend speak of his father again. He was sure it was the same way as the Prince spoke of the Pharaoh, and he could still swear that their voices sounded the same. He shook the thought off, _'What am I thinking? That Yami and Prince Atemu are one and the same? That's nonsense!'_

"Hey Yuugi, you okay?"Yuugi looked up to see crimson eyes staring at him questioningly, slight concern visible in those beautiful orbs.

'_The same as Atemu's…'_ he again shook his head at the thought, "I'm fine, just thinking." he smiled reassuringly while blushing a bit.

Atemu smiled at his little one. Again they stared at each other without even knowing it, but were once moreinterrupted. Not by Jou – who hadn't even been paying attention to them because of the duel still going on – or by Teana – who had been trying to get Jou's attention – but by a group of mages suddenly bursting into the Duel Ground. Everybody in the building froze and then started to run out of the building as fast as they could..

Atemu was shocked to see _mages_ in a place like this. What the hell did they want here! He and his friends started to run out of the building as well, but were stopped by a few of the mages – though they let everybody else go.

Atemu pulled the hood of cloak a bit further over his face to hide his features from view better - fearing the worst at the moment – before letting his protective side take over and pulling Yuugi behind him.

Everyone elsehad escaped the building and only Atemu, Yuugi, Jou and Teana were left together with all the mages, "What do ya want from us?" Jou asked, his voice sounding both angry and scared at the same time.

"It isn't what they want," a voice behindthe small groupsaid. They all turned around to see who had spoken to them, "it's what I want."

A mage dresses in royal purple robes lined with gold stood there smirking at them. His face was wrinkled whichmeant that the man was already quite old. His hair wasn't seen as a tall purple hat upon his head seemingly hid it – if he even had any hair left at all to hide in the first place.

Atemu immediately recognized the man as the High Mage, the most powerful sorcerer there was as far as he knew.

"And I want you." the High Mage continued, looking directly at Atemu.

_'Just my luck. He _did_ recognize me.' _Atemu glared at the man in front of him while trying to find a way out of this without having to show who he was to Yuugi, Jou and Teana. He saw the cheer amount of mages around him and his 'must-protect-Yuugi-against-everything' mode was immediately turned on.

Teana, Jou and Yuugi looked at Atemu strangely, "What does he want from you Yami?" Yuugi whispered before strong arms pulled him closer and he was pulled againsthis crush'chest in a protective way. Although he was sure he had mentally fainted already, he still managed to keep his thoughts on track since turning into a puddle wouldn't really help right now. He was completely sure that his face was by now a bright crimson though.

"Yami?" the High Mage asked amused, "My, my, you've gotten yourself a secret identity here."

Atemu narrowed his eyes on the High Mage, "Shut up, Dakuso." he growled, "What do you want."

Jou, Teana and Yuugi looked shocked at Atemu as he spoke to the High Mage so disrespectful. Did he want to get himself killed or something?

"Power, Egypt, the throne, your Puzzle, and so much more." Dakuso started, "the latter only you can give me, _Prince_."

Atemu growled low in his throat again; he was never going to hide his real identity for long now. Deciding thatit wasn't worth trying, he pulled the cap of his cloak off his head to reveal his trademark spiky tri-coloured hair. He heard two gasps next to him, but was surprised to see Yuugi not really all that shocked.There was actually a look on the other's face that stated, 'I-knew-I-wasn't-going-mad-and-that-you-were-the-Prince!'.

_'Damn, he must've recognized my voice at some level after all.'_Atemu mused but quickly turned his attention back to Dakuso, "And how are you going to get all these things?" he hissed.

Dakuso smirked like only a madman could, "Well, my dear Prince, only the latter is to be taken really." Atemu stared at him confused, "I've killed your father Atemu; the throne is mine and therefore so is Egypt and the power of being the Pharaoh."

Atemu's eyes widened in shock and slight horror. Inwardly he was actually cheering that his father was dead, but now Dakuso - someone who he had never trusted - had the throne unless he did something about it. He knew that Dakuso was a madman and would destroy Egypt in no time, then simply move on to a new goal in life without caring about what happened to all the lives he'd destroyed.

"No…"Atemu whispered.

"What's wrong? I thought you'd be glad that I killed your Ra-damned father." Dakuso said mockingly.

Atemu glared at him, "You know I don't care about what you did to my father; he was a tyrant and I hated him. But I won't let you get your hands on the throne for you would be an even bigger tyrant, and a madman as well. You would lead Egypt to its destruction in no time."

"Well then you'll have to stop me." Dakuso grinned; "I summon Cosmo Queen!" he called as his monster materialized on in front of him.

Teana and Jou both took a few steps backwards as Yuugi tightened his grip on Atemu. He closed his eyes and slightly relaxed as he felt Atemu tighten his grip as well, obviously trying to comfort the little one in his arms.

Atemu's anger flared ever more and the Millennium Puzzle shone brightly for everyone to see as a flaring shadowy aura engulfed not only him, but Yuugi as well, "Then I summon Dark Magician!" Atemu growled as his faithful Magician materialized in front of him.

Atemu knew he wouldn't last long against a skilled Mage like Dakuso, even if his anger was giving him more power. Besides, he needed to protect his new friends no matter what so he had to escape somehow. He would find a way to defeat Dakuso but he wasn't ready yet.

"Then let us begin shall we? COSMO QUEEN, ATTACK HIS DARK MAGICIAN!" Dakuso demanded. His Cosmo Queen attacked but the Dark Magician managed to dodge the attack.

"Dark Magician, attack!" Atemu yelled, buthe wasn't pointing at the Cosmo Queen, he was pointing towards the Mages blocking their way out of the building. The Dark Magician fired a strong blast of magic at the unsuspecting Mages who were blown aside and knocked unconscious as they hadn't been prepared for such a blast. Atemu quickly used the flaming aura around him to push both Teana and Jou towards the exit, while he let go of Yuugi's waist and grabbing the smaller teen's hand to drag Yuugi with him.

Dakuso was in momentary shock at Atemu's action, but quickly recovered, "NO! Don't let them escape!" his Cosmo Queen launched forward but was stopped by another powerful magic blast from the Dark Magician. The Cosmo Queen glared and the two started fighting each other. The Dark Magician didn't stop until Atemu and the others were out of sight, only then did he fade away just as the Cosmo Queen attacked again.

"Curse that spoiled brat!" Dakuso yelled frustrated. He looked around the building to see all his Mages unconscious, some more injured than others.

"I _will_ get that Puzzle from you Atemu! Mark my words, all the Millennium Items _will_ be mine."

* * *

Atemu didn't stop running until they had reached the outskirts of the city. Nor Dakuso, nor his monster had followed them and he could feel his Dark Magician safely back in his tablet. 

He let go of Yuugi's hand and fell to his knees panting. He had run halfway across town while trying his best to keep his monster alive and fuelled with shadow magic - a combination that didn't exactly work all to well.

"Atemu?" he heard Yuugi ask next to him.The Prince - or ex-Prince now -looked up and smiled slightly at his worried looking angel, "I'm okay, just tired." he managed to say between pants.

"So lemme get dis straight. You're really da Prince but ya were pretendin´ to be a peasant? Ya lost me dere." Jou said confused as he sat down on a nearby rock.

"Ex-Prince at the moment." Atemu corrected him, finally catching his breath enough to speak normally, "And being Prince isn't all that fun. It's boring and everybody treats you like you're made of Ra-damned glass. I hate it."

"Well you don't know if you're really ex-prince. For all we know that guy was lying." Teana tried but Atemu shook his head.

"I know what Dakuso's capable of and I could see that he was speaking the truth. He killed my father and took the throne."

"He's right." a voice behind them said. They all looked around to see Seth walking over, "I'm glad you're safe, Atemu." he said with a relieved expression on his face.

"Well I wouldn't call be hunted down by a guy who could easily destroy you safe, cous." Atemu said smiling, "But I guess I'm still alive and breathing at the moment."

"Wait, if Yami is really Atemu then," Jou looked at Seth, "you're Seto?"

"Very good Mutt, you're smarter than you look." Seth smirked.

Jou glared at him but stayed quiet, "How did you escape?" Atemu asked as he looked at his cousin.

"I managed to slip away from everybody and used your route to get out of the palace." Seth said as he also threw a small package at Atemu, "I even brought you some clothes."

"His route?" Teana asked.

"He jumps out of his window." Seth said simply, smirking as he saw Yuugi's shocked face; Yuugi knew that Atemu's bedroom was on the second floor.

Atemu changed behind a few bushes into the clothes Seth had brought him. Seth had obviously taken them from the hiding spot in the garden as they were the same as he had been wearing all day, although his jewellery was missing, _'Oh well, it's not like I really need that at the moment.'_ he tucked the Millennium Puzzle under the blue cape and joined the small group again.

"So uhm… are we supposed ta treat ya like royalty now or somethin'?" Jou asked, a bit uncomfortable with the situation.

Atemu let out a sigh, "No, the whole reason why I escaped that damned palace was so I could have some fun and be treated like a normal human being." he said, "As for Seth, he'll just have to deal with it." he finished smirking.

Seth rolled his eyes, "Let's talk about something more important than status right now, like where we're supposed to go? Atemu and I don't really have anywhere to go, and if you three go back into that town, you'll be caught in no time. Anybody any ideas?"

"Da caves," Jou said, "there are some caves not far from here."

"He's right, they're the best thing we can get right now." Teana agreed.

Seth let out a sigh; this was going to be hell for him, he could just feel it.

* * *

**And that's it for this chap people! So now everybody who wanted that basterd Aknunkanon dead can all throw a party. Hope you enjoyed this chap and 'till next update!**


	6. Chapter 5: The God Monsters

**Hello people, I'm back! I'm glad you all liked the last chap though I think some of you might want to kill me at the end of this one... Damn... I better start looking for a place to hide. Uhm... right. Well while you read this new chap I'm going to hide myself so i won't get killed at the end, R&R people!

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**

--: 5 :--  
The God Monsters

Upon entering the cave the group had chosen as their temporary home, Seth groaned in frustration. He had to admit that he hadn't quite known how good he had had it back at the palace, until now that is.

The caveat daytime would probably be dimly lit in Ra's rays, but now that Ra had almost set completely, the cave was dark and looked foreboding.

"Home sweet home!" Jou exclaimed, already making himself comfortable on the ground near a couple of rocks… well as comfortable as you could get in a place like this anyway.

"How can you be so cheerful right now, Mutt?" Seth growled as he sat down on a rock.

"Would ya stop callin' me dat!" Jou exclaimed, glaring at Seth.

Seth smirked, "Why, it's fun to see you react to it all the time… _Mutt_."

"Cous, leave him alone." Atemu chuckled softly. He had absolutely no problem with staying in the cave for a while. After all, it would grant him some more time with his angel. Seth shrugged indifferently before ignoring his cousin and starting to argue with Jou once more.

"You guys are hopeless." Teana muttered, "I'm going to go look for something to eat." She left the cave while muttering something about argueing like a married couple.

"Great, so now we're stuck with those two by ourselves." Atemu said as he sat down on a part of the ground covered in moss. Yuugi giggled before shivering a bit; it was quite cold in the cave, especially since Ra had set completely by now, "You cold?" Atemu asked as he noticed the light shiver and the goose bumps covering the younger one's arms.

Yuugi nodded before 'eep'ing as Atemu pulled him into his lap and taking his blue cape to drape it over them both. Yuugi blushed furiously but hoped that the darkness would conceal it. His blush grew even deeper as he felt Atemu's arms snake their way around his frame and pull him even closer.

"Better?" Yuugi just nodded, not trusting his own voice at the moment. He felt Atemu tighten his hold around him even more as the said Prince started nuzzling him lightly again. Yuugi could do nothing than hold back the moans that were ready to come out of his throat. He relaxed in the hold after a few second, knowing Atemu wouldn't stop and quite frankly, not really wanting the other to stop anyway.

Atemu kept nuzzling his little angel while at the same time listening to Seth and Jou argue like a married couple, _'Yup, he's in love.'_ he smirked at this thought. Though neither of them had ever fallen in love before, he had always thought that it would be easier for him than for Seth, as Seth mostly blocked out his feelings for other people. He silently hoped that Seth would just continue to argue with the blonde so he could keep himself occupied with the little angel in his arms. He was very happy about the fact that Yuugi had relaxed after a moment and was now actually leaning against his chest – though he doubted that Yuugi was even aware of that.

"OH I GIVE UP! YOU'RE HOPELESS!" Jou yelled before turning his back to the High Priest and muttering darkly under his breath.

Seth just smirked at his victory and turned towards Atemu and his little look-alike. Even though the cave was dark and you could barely see anything, he could make out Atemu sitting against a wall on some moss with Yuugi on his lap… and his cousin was having a lot of fun as far as he could see. He decided to leave his cousin alone for now and tease him about it later, "So what are we going to do now?" he asked.

Atemu let out a sigh as he focused on what the hell he had to do to get the kingdom out of Dakuso's grasp, "I don't know cous, he's the strongest magician known alive. How are we supposed to fight a source of power that big?" They all fell into silence as all of them thought about this, "Wait… didn't my father used to say something about 3 Egyption God monsters?" Atemu thought out loud.

"Yeah, but they're believed to be myth. What makes you think they're real?" Seth asked, raising an eyebrow sceptically.

"Because my father wasn't one to believe just anything. If he believed in this, then there is definitely some truth to it." Atemu replied, "The only question is: where are these god monsters?"

"According to legend, the God Monsters are supposed to rest in a sacred temple. I know where the temple is since my father once taught me about it, but if the monsters are real, so are all the traps that protect the temple." Seth said.

"You two totally lost me. God Monsters? What are ya talkin' about?" Jou asked thoroughly confused.

Seth let out a sigh, "They're the most powerful monsters known." he said, trying to put it as simple as possible.

Jou blinked, "Oh," he blinked again before grinning, "are there any cards of them?"

Atemu chuckled, "There are," he said smirking, "and they're mine."

Jou's eyes widened, "You're kidding!" he exclaimed as Atemu's smirk just widened in reply.

"He's not kidding, that's one of the reasons why he always beats me." Seth grumbled.

Atemu smirked, "One of them yeah, the other being that I'm just better."

Seth rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

"So… we're going to find the real versions of these monsters?" Yuugi asked.

"That's about the only way I can think of to get stronger than Dakuso. He's a really powerful Mage." Atemu said. He noticed the somewhat scared glint in his little one's eyes and started nuzzling the boy again, "Don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

Yuugi blushed again as he could feel Jou and Seth smirk at the two of them, "O-okay." he then mentally kicked himself for stuttering.

Teana walked back into the cave with some berries and nuts in her arms, "Hey guys, this was all I could find." she said. She handed small portions to everybody and sat down near Jou. Jou quickly filled her in on what the plans were and, with some help from Seth, also explained what the god monsters were.

As Jou and Seth were done explaining, they looked Atemu and Yuugi's way to see them both sound asleep. Atemu still had his arms around Yuugi and was hugging the other to his chest as Yuugi was leaning against Atemu's chest and tightly holding onto the material of Atemu's robes.

Seth chuckled softly at the display, "We better get some sleep as well. Knowing Atemu, he'll want to leave tomorrow morning as soon as we're all awake."

The others agreed and they all found a spot in the cave to sleep. Seth watched as the other two fell asleep right away, though he couldn't quite fall asleep. It wasn't that he was lying on moss - which wasn't exactly what he was used to – or that it was cold around him. No, it was the damn Mutt lying not too far away from him. He sighed as he tried to push Jou out of his thoughts but realized it wasn't working. The so-called Mutt was filling his mind completely, _'Damn it, I hate it when Atemu's right about things. I just can't be liking the Mutt!'_ he glanced at Jou's sleeping form and sighed once more in defeat, _'Or maybe I can.'_

* * *

"Would you all just hurry up!" Atemu scolded at Jou, Seth and Teana. He and Yuugi were walking up front as the other 3 followed them – only in Atemu's opinion they were going to slow.

"Will you stop nagging us all the time! It's Ra-damned hot okay!" Seth yelled back. He had had it with Atemu and all his yelling and snapping at them. The only one being spared of this treatment was Yuugi.

Yuugi was walking by Atemu's side without any sort of scolding, glaring or yelling thrown at him. Actually, Atemu was using the powers in the Millennium Puzzle to shield the bright rays of Ra from himself and Yuugi. The others on the other hand did not have this and were being fried alive, "Now I know what an egg must feel when it's bein´ fried." Jou muttered so only Teana and Seth could hear.

"I'll have to agree with you for this time," Seth muttered back before turning his attention back to Atemu who was glaring at them impatiently, "Atemu, we need a break! We've been walking through this Ra-forsaken desert for the past 3 hours and we need to stop!"

"And where do you suggest we stop, hmm? We're in the middle of the desert so if we stop we get fried even more." Atemu growled.

"Except for you and Yuugi." Seth muttered under his breath.

"Uhm… guys?" Teana piped up. Atemu and Seth both turned their eyes on her, glares still visible and scaring the brunette slightly, "I just wanted to say that there's a city over there." she said quickly, taking a step back at the harsh looks.

Seth and Atemu stopped glaring to stare in the direction where Teana was pointing to. True enough, a city could be seen at the horizon, "Well what're we waitin' for?" Jou grinned and started running towards the city with new found strength and motivation. Teana and Seth - who were both very happy to see a city because it meant rest, food and water – quickly ran after the blonde, leaving Yuugi and Atemu behind.

"What are they complaining about?" Yuugi asked, "I'm not hot at all."

Atemu grinned at his little angel before taking the others hand and pulling him towards the city, "That's because I've been using the magic in my Puzzle to shield us from Ra's heat." he said smiling down at Yuugi.

Yuugi cocked his head to the side in a very cute way, _'Then why didn't he do that to the others as well?'_ choosing to ignore the question and just walk on to the city, he could suddenly feel it getting hotter around him.

Atemu growled softly as he felt the magic of the Puzzle fade away slowly. He had been using its powers for too long and he had been using it on two people to make things worse. Now the Puzzle's shield was slowly fading away which meant that his little one would be fried alive if they didn't get to the city fast, "Come on, we better catch up to the others." he said, tugging on Yuugi's hand. They ran as fast as they could towards the fast closing city.

* * *

"So you have no idea were we are?"

"Not a clue."

"You're kidding me… right? Please tell me you're kidding."

"Atemu, do I look like I'm kidding? I have no idea where this city is and therefore, I can't say where we have to go."

Teana sighed as the two cousins were trying to figure out where they were and which way to go. They had gone to the city as fast as they could and with some of the money that Seth had luckily brought when he escaped the palace, they had been able to buy some water and food.

There was something terribly wrong with this place though. Everybody in the city seemed to be staring at them strangely while other looks were more suggestive. Seth and Atemu had both pulled cloaks over their heads to fool everyone around like they had done to her and her friends before,so she knew they hadn't been recognized.

"Guys, let's just go okay?" Jou asked nervously. He too had been feeling very uncomfortable under the many gazes they seemed to attract.

"Go where? We have no idea were we are Mutt. We can't just walk back into that desert without knowing where to go." Seth growled, thoroughly annoyed at their current position.

"I know but I don't trust it here. Dey keep lookin' at us." Jou said nervously.

A loud neigh made them all look around to see a male figure with long black hair reaching his mid-backand emerald green eyes wearing a – surprisingly clean – brown robe coming at them on a beautiful black stallion. The figure stopped right in front of the small group of friends and smirked, "So you are the travellers I've heard so much about." he spoke, his tone filled with arogance. He had a sultry voice that could make just about any girl faint just at the tone of it – luckily Teana wasn't one to be seduced easily.

Yuugi, always being the polite one, smiled friendly at the man, "I guess we are. Can we help you with anything?"

The man on the stallion looked at Yuugi and his smirk turning into a grin.

Atemu noticed that the eyes of the man had filled with desire at first glancing at his angel. He growled low in his throat and stepped forward to stand in front of Yuugi slightly. The man glowered at Atemu but Atemu didn't even flinch; he was used to fierce glares.

"Well I'm afraid you have violated one of the rules of this city." the man said, still glowering at Atemu who had accepted the glaring contest and was glaring back with all his might.

"What rules?" Jou asked cluelessly.

"Upon entering you must give the ruler a gift." the man spoke.

"And who is this ruler?" Atemu growled.

"Why, that would be me. I am the great Sovok, ruler and master here. Since you have not presented me with a gift when entering my city, I shall now take something I want." Sovok smirked as he let his horse dash forward a few steps to knock Atemu out of the way, before grabbing Yuugi and galloping away at full speed.

Atemu fell to the ground as Sovok's horse dashed a few steps forward and glared up to see Sovok grabbing _his_ Yuugi and galloping away as fast as he could.

"NO!" Atemu cried out, already getting to his feet and running after the man who's soul would soon be joining the shadows in the Shadow Realm if he had anything to say about it.

"Atemu! Come back here!" he heard Seth cry out but he ignored it. He needed Yuugi and he would die before he let this Sovok character hurt his little angel.

Although the Puzzle was still regaining its power, Atemu prayed to the shadow magic in it to help him. He felt new strength course through his veins as the Millennium Puzzle shone dimly under his cloak. He followed Sovok and the screaming Yuugi to the largest building in the city. The gate however, had closed by the time Atemu got to it and he had to watch as Sovok dismounted his horse and grabbed Yuugi by his wrist before pulling the other along.

"SOVOK!" Atemu yelled in rage. Sovok turned to the gate to smirk at the sight of the enraged Atemu standing there.

"What is it, peasant?" Sovok taunted mockingly, "Leave this city before I take another of your friends."

Atemu had trouble restraining his anger but knew he couldn't just use his shadow magic just yet. A lot of people were standing around him and if word got out that a stranger had somehow 'killed' their ruler, Dakuso would surely know that it had been him.

"He's mine now so go!" Sovok mocked in a commanding voice before pulling a struggling Yuugi with him into the large building.

Yuugi had been happy all day. He had been with Atemu the entire time and it seemed that only he had been spared from all the glares, scowls and yelling. But now…

Now he was being pulled through a house by the ruler of the city they had entered. Atemu was outside, not able to help him and he hadn't failed to notice the lust filled gaze Sovok had given him when he first laid eyes on him.

He was roughly pushed into a room and fell to the ground painfully. He looked up with fear filled eyes to see Sovok close the door behind him and glance at him once again with lust filled eyes.

"You'll make a perfect pleasure slave for me." Sovok spoke grinning like a madman. Yuugi backed away as Sovok slowly came closer to him.

'_Atemu, where are you?'

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_

**°has found a hiding place and is speaking to you from there° okay, I know, you all wanna kill me for leaving it at that and getting Yuugi in this much trouble but...but... Damn, I don't have any excuses... WAIT! The plot bunnies! They made me do it! Kill them! Not me! °sees readers take out torture devices and start looking for her° Uh oh... Well can you at leas wait with the torture til after you people review! °sees readers shake their heads and continue to search° damn, I´m SO dead now. BUT IF YOU KILL ME YOU´LL NEVER KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! °sees readers stop looking for her and acting all innocent as if nothing has happened° man, that wasclose one. Well anyway, if you guys wanna know what hapens next, review!**


	7. Chapter 6: A Brainwashed Foe

**Hey people! As I promised, here's the next chap so I hope you all enjoy. Now I just know several of you will want to kill me again at the end of this chap so while you people read, I'll go find a new hiding spot, R&R!

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--: 6 :--_  
_**A brainwashed foe**

"Atemu!" Seth called out as he saw his long time friend standing at the gate. He, Jou and Teana quickly made their way over to him, "Is Yuugi…" Seth trailed off as he looked at the huge house.

Atemu nodded, the glare that he had given Sovok still lingering on his face and not really going away anytime soon, "It took you long enough. We need to get Yuugi out of there! That guy was looking way too suggestive athim and I don't want that… that… bastard to get Yuugi like that." _'That honour will be mine.'_

"But how are we supposed to get in?" Jou asked, "We can't really climb over da gate."

Atemu's glare was replaced with a smirk, "My Puzzle has many gifts," he said vaguely before walking towards an allay. Jou gave him a confused look but followed him nonetheless, Seth and Teana close behind.

When Atemu knew nobody was around, he closed his eyes in concentration and focussed on the power of the Puzzle. The power was weak as it had been used a lot but Atemu couldn't really care less at the moment; he needed Yuugi back.

The Millennium Puzzle started to shine brightly and dark shadows covered the wall that was separating them from the gardens infront of the mansion. Atemu snapped his eyes open and smirked, "Coming?" heasked as he stepped into the shadows on the wall.

Jou and Teana stared at the with shadows covered wall, "Uhm… Seth?" Jou asked questioningly.

"Don't ask, just do. When it comes to that damned Puzzle of his, Atemu knows what he's doing." Seth muttered and stepped into the shadows as well.

He emerged from the shadows on the other side of the wall as if he had just stepped through it and glanced around as there was no sight of Atemu. Jou and Teana emerged from the shadows as well and the small portal faded away, "Where's Atemu?" Teana asked.

A loud scream was heard from inside the mansion, "That damned cousin of mine has no patience!" Seth growled, already knowing it was Atemu who was causing the commotion.

* * *

Atemu wasted no time as he stepped though the wall and immediately ran towards the mansion. Seth would probably kill him for not waiting but he needed to save Yuugi first and then he'd worry about the wrath of his cousin. 

He sneaked into the mansion and glanced around carefully. He would try his best to get to Yuugi without being seen – something that would probably fail miserably but he'd give it a shot anyway.

'_Okay, I'm a freaking Ra-damned bastard who just stole someone from their friends. Where do I go?"_ He was shaken out of his thoughts as he heard a loud scream from somewhere upstairs, _'That's Yuugi!'_ He ran up the steps as fast as he could to see a long hallway with many doors. Growling, he hoped Yuugi would give him another sign, since opening every door here would definitely make sure that the entire mansion knew he was there.

He slowly made his way through the hall, trying to hear if anything was behind the doors without having to open them. Luckily, he heard another scream coming from a room up ahead and he again recognized Yuugi's voice. He stormed to the door and tried to open it but noticed that it was locked, "Leave me alone!" Yuugi yelled, panic filling his voice.

Atemu's third eye started shinning on his forehead as he heard his little angel yell. He used the power in the Puzzle to throw the door off its hinges and stepped into the room with an enraged look on his face. The cloak that had been concealing his trademark tri-coloured hair had dropped onto the ground at the small explosion.

The sight that met his eyes when Atemu stepped into the room, infuriated the ex-prince even more. Sovok had driven Yuugi into a corner so the younger boy couldn't escape him and was standing way too close tohis little one in Atemu's opinion. Yuugi's face was covered in tears and beginning bruises could be seen on his arms, telling Atemu that Sovok had hit Yuugi.

To say Atemu was enraged beyond belief would be an understatement.

"What the…?" Sovok turned around to stare into blazing enraged crimson orbs that were glaring at him with such a force that the ruler unconsciously stepped away from Yuugi. Yuugi quickly took advantage of this and ran to Atemu.

Atemu wrapped his arms around Yuugi's frame as the boy clung to him, softly crying into his chest.

"You… You're Prince Atemu! You're supposed to be dead according to the new Pharaoh!" Sovok exclaimed shocked.

"I'm very much alive and I'm also very much pissed off." Atemu hissed, "Nobody touches _my_ Yuugi." The shadows in the room started to shift and move closer to the shocked and scared ruler. They surrounded him before engulfing the screaming and yelling man in darkness, pulling him into the Shadow Realm where his soul would be consumed.

Atemu looked down to Yuugi and comforted the boy, "Don't worry Yuugi, he's gone and he won't come back." Atemu hushed. His voice had returned to normal and his glare had disappeared. The third eye on his forehead was no longer visible and the rage inside him had subsided.

"Atemu!" Seth called as he stormed into the room. He calmed down a bit as he saw Atemu and Yuugi standing in the still intact room. The body of Sovok lay on the floor unmoving. He glanced back at his cousin and saw him comforting the still lightly crying Yuugi, "You two okay?"

Atemu looked up and smiled at his cousin, "We're fine."

Yuugi nodded as he pulled away from Atemu's chest, missing the small pout Atemu gave him at that action. Yuugi glanced at the body lying on the floor, "What did you do to him?" he asked.

Atemu glared at the body, "I send him somewhere he'll never return from." he growled.

Yuugi blinked in confusion but decided to drop the subject because he didn't want Atemu to be angry.

Jou and Teana ran into the room looking around panicked, "Who died!" Jou exclaimed.

Seth, Yuugi and Atemu stared at him, "No one?" Atemu said.

"But… we heard someone scream… and yell…" Jou said.

Atemu grinned, "That was 'mister-high-and-mighty' over there. He didn't like my travel agency I think." he said innocently as he pointed towards the motionless body of Sovok.

Jou and Teana looked at him confused but decided to drop it. They didn't really want to know what Atemu had done to Sovok.

"Well since you took care of 'mister-high-and-mighty', as you put call him, we might as well take some supplies and clothes from him as well." Seth said smirking, "It's not like he's going to need them anymore."

Atemu nodded, "Yeah, good idea cous. Yuugi and I will go and look for clothes, you and Jou can find stuff like a map or bags and Teana can get some food and water." he then pulled Yuugi with him into the hallway to find a room with clothes or something, without waiting for the protests his cousin would probably give him.

Seth sighed, _'Damn you Atemu. You just have to pair me up with the Mutt, don't you.'_ He glanced at Jou who was already looking through the room for stuff they could use. Teana had left the room already to find the kitchen, "Find anything yet, Mutt?" he asked.

Jou glared at him, "No but ya might wanno try and help." he snapped back. He glared daggers at the ex-High Priest who just smirked and started looking through the room as well.

After a few minutes, Jou came across a map of the desert. He grinned widely, "Hey Seth, look what I found."

Seth turned around and saw Jou waving a piece of papyrus in the air. He walked over and took the piece out of Jou's hands and looked at it, "A map?" he smirked, "Good job Mutt, you found something useful. I can easily find where the temple is on this thing." he patted Jou's head mockingly.

Jou slapped Seth's hand away and glared at the brunette, "Would ya just stop dat! I'm not a dog!"

Seth smirked, "Of course you are, you're my little pup." he then stepped away from the now furiously blushing Jou to see if he could find anything else they could use.

* * *

Teana was surprised to not run into anyone. Not a slave or servant seemed to be in this place. Shrugging, she was glad to finally find the kitchen. She quickly gathered some bread and filled a couple of bottles with water for them to take with them. When she was about to go back, she saw something move in the shadows. She turned to the shifting shadows and was shocked to see Dakuso emerging from them. She was about to scream when Dakuso quickly grabbed her and put a hand over her mouth to muffle the scream, which worked quite effectively, "No screaming my dear. We don't want the others to know I'm here now do we?" he asked smirking as Teana cowered in his grasp. 

Teana noticed that there were a few differences between the Dakuso that had stormed into the Duel Ground and the way he looked now. For one, one of his eyes was replaced by a golden eye like thingie. Around his neck were dangling an Ankh and a ring of some sort. In his now satin dark purple robes was a rod strapped to it. All the items had the same symbol as Atemu's Puzzle had on it so Teana assumed they were Millennium items as well, and Dakuso had 4 on him as far as she could see.

"Now let's see what that brat is up to." Dakuso's Millennium Eye flashed brightly and Teana closed her eyes at the brightness, "So he wants to find the god monsters to stop me, huh?" Dakuso grinned, "Let the fool try. If he gets anywhere near them, I'll take them from him." he looked at Teana, grinning like only he could, "And you, my dear, are going to help me with that.

The Millennium Key around his neck let off a bright flash. Teana's eyes dulled and became empty, almost lifeless. Then her eyes came back into focus and Dakuso let go off her. He smirked at her as she bowed deeply in front of him, "My master. What are your wishes?" she asked respectfully.

"I want you to stay with these fools you used to call your friends. I will send people to you for reports on how things are going. When you enter the temple and you find the god monster tablets, kill Atemu and the rest before they can get to them. Then simply call for me by calling out my name in your mind. I will come to you to claim the Millennium Puzzle and the god monster tablets and you will be handsomely rewarded." he smirked as Teana nodded her head and stood up again. She gathered the food and water she had dropped and exited the kitchen to go back to her 'friends'. Dakuso smiled wickedly as she walked away, _'I will get you Atemu, no matter what!'_

* * *

"So were do you think they keep the clothes around here?" Yuugi asked as he and Atemu opened door after door, "And why is there no one else in this place?" 

"I don't know but I don't care about the latter part. It only makes it easier for us to look around." Atemu sighed, "Though I'd like to find those clothes now." They'd been looking around for while now but most of the rooms were filled with either jewellery, nothing, or simply furniture.

"Found it!" Yuugi suddenly exclaimed and ran into a room filled with racks of robes and other clothes. Atemu quickly followed into the room and saw Yuugi already looking through the racks to find something of his size. He chuckled lightly as Yuugi pulled out robes that werefar to big to fit him while sighing in frustration, "I know I'm not big but come on! There has to be something in my size!"

They both started looking and found clothes for Seth, Jou, Teana and Atemu himself. It wasn't until the last rack did they finally come across something in Yuugi's size.

Mentally begging Yuugi to change in front of him, Atemu pouted as he was send out of the room to bring the other clothes to Seth, Jou and Teana, while Yuugi changed, _'Damn him!'_ Atemu growled in his mind as he walked back to the room where he had send Sovok to the Shadow Realm.

When he entered the room, he threw the robes Yuugi and he had picked out for the two – again arguing – teens, "Stop arguing like a married couple for once would you?" he said smirking. He was surprised to see Jou blush at his comment and Seth smirk at that reaction, _'Now I know I missed something interesting here. I'll have to ask Seth about it later.'_

Jou and Seth both left the room to change somewhere and Jou took Teana's clothes with him saying he'd bring them to the female brunette.

Atemu changed into his new robes, sat down on the bed and leaned back on the wall lazily waiting for his friends to return. When Yuugi entered the room his attention immediately returned to reality. Yuugi was wearing spotless sand-coloured robes that fitted him perfectly with a yellow sash around his waist. Atemu – now dressed in crimson robes with a golden sash around his waist - motioned for him to come over and pulled the boy into his lap again, "You look great." he half purred.

"T-thanks." Yuugi blushed furiously when Atemu's arms snaked themselves around his frame, making sure he couldn't go anywhere – not that he was planning on going anywhere, he was quite comfortable where he was. Atemu started nuzzling him again and Yuugi just closed his eyes while leaning against Atemu's well-toned chest, smiling. He felt Atemu's finger lifting his chin lightly and opened his eyes to stare into beautiful crimson orbs. He could get lost in those incredible crimson pools as he continued to stare, his mind already turning to mush.

Atemu slowly caressed his little angel's cheek while almost drowning himself in Yuugi's amethyst eyes. Leaning closer to his little one to finally be able to claim those lips with his own, they were interrupted when…

"SHUDDUP SETH! I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF DA MUTT INSULTS! JUST STOP IT!" Jou's voice yelled out angrily. Atemu and Yuugi both snapped out of their daze, the moment ruined. Yuugi blushed bright crimson as he stared down at the ground, not daring to look up at Atemu right now.

Atemu growled in his mind at his lost chance and glared at the blonde as he entered the room. The blonde, dressed in green robes and a purple sash however, didn't seem to be noticing as he was too busy glaring himself at a certain male brunette.

Seth entered the room smirking followed by Teana who was carrying some food and water. Seth was dressin in cerulean coloured robes with an icy-blue sash and Teana was dressed in purple robes with a pink sash, "Nope, not in this life time." Seth said. **(A/N: or the next lifetime for that matter if you ask me XD)**

"Guys, just shut up!" Teana snapped at them. Jou huffed and turned his back to Seth as Seth himself glared at Teana for interrupting them.

Atemu sighed in defeat as he knew he could never get back to the mood Yuugi and he had been in and pushed the thought of finally kissing those lips aside for now, "Did everybody get everything they were supposed to get?" he asked.

Everybody looked at him as if just noticing him and Yuugi there. Seth smirked at the sight of Yuugi blushing bright crimson and looking at the ground while Atemu still had his arms wrapped around the younger boy's waist.

"Jou and I found a map of the desert and a couple of bags that we can use to carry the food and water." Seth said as he pointed to a corner in the room where 2 bags were lying, "We can bring some clothes with us but not too much."

Atemu nodded and let Yuugi get out of his lap as he stood up himself, "Then let's pack and get out of here." he said, "I suppose none of you have seen any horses around that we can take?"

"Probably in the stables. There should be at least one since Sovok was riding a stallion when he took Yuugi." Seth said.

They packed their stuff before going to the stables to seemore than enoughhorses there. Each of them picked out one and left the mansion without even thinking about Sovok anymore. As they left the city, they could see Ra already starting to set and knew that in a few hours, he would disappear under the horizon completely. They hoped they could find a good place to stay for the night when that came, because nights in the desert could and would be freezing cold.

* * *

**Ghehe... now before you all go after me to kill me for interrupting that kiss, IT WASN'T MY FAULT! My editor was begging me to make them kiss and I just couldn't resist and had to put this in to torture her. IT'S ALL HER FAULT! GO GET DODO, NOT ME! °sees people coming at her with pitchforks and torches° uh oh, better go hide now. °gulps° uhm, R&R please! °runs to her hideout as fast as possible°**


	8. Chapter 7: Separation

**Hey there people. Pfew, I'm glad you all let me survive last chap and since this chap doesn't really have anything worth killing me over, I'M SAFE!... for now anyway.  
I got a question why Dakuso didn't have the Millennium Scales and Tauk with him last chap so let me explain. Dakuso does have them but I think a guy like him would hardly wear something like the Tauk cuz I think it's more for girls and the Scales would probably get in his way all the time so he just left them at the palace or something.  
Anyway, I'll stop rambling now and just let you guys read the next chap, R&R people!

* * *

**

--: 7 :--  
Separation

'_Cold… so cold… need heat…'_ That was about the only thing flashing through Jou's mind. Ra had set completely about an hour ago and they were lying in a small oasis that Atemu had spotted. When they had arrived, Teana had immediately claimed the bag with clothes and was now lying on the grass covered with all the robes, sound asleep.

Atemu had pulled Yuugi close to him and had draped his warm cloak over the two of them. They were sleeping peacefully on the grass as well and didn't really seem to be bothered by the cold at all – which was probably because of the little shadow magic that kept the cloak so warm, but our dear Jou didn't know that.

As far as he could see, Seth was staring up at the stars absentmindedly. He didn't seem to be bothered by the cold either.

So why was he?

He sighed as he turned to his other side and tried to ignore the cold so he could catch some sleep. Needless to say, he was failing miserably at it.

"If you keep thinking about it, you'll be cold all night." a voice said.

Jou turned back to see Seth looking at him, "I know but it's hard to think of anythin' else when you're dis damned cold." he closed his eyes but snapped them back open as he felt someone lie down next to him, "Seth? What da…?"

"You want to be warm or argue?" Seth looked at Jou with a raised eyebrow.

Jou let out a sigh, "Be warm." he said. Not that he really minded Seth lying so close to him, but he'd die before he'd admit that out loud.

Seth smirked and draped his cloak over them both, "Thought you might say that." He closed his eyes but felt Jou shiver next to him after a moment, _'He's still cold? Oh no! Nonononono! I am not doing this like Atemu! I am _not _holding the Mutt in my arms!'_ After feeling another few shivers next to him he gave up his inner battle, shifted closer to Jou, and pulled the blonde into his arms.

Jou's eyes widened in shock as he felt Seth shift closer and then pull him into his arms. What the hell was going on! Seth kept calling him Mutt and yet now he was holding him like Atemu did with Yuugi – and Jou knew all too well that the ex-Prince had feelings for his little buddy, "Seth?" he whispered questioningly, but leaned against Seth's chest slightly nonetheless.

"Just go to sleep Mutt." Seth murmured, already half asleep himself. He had to admit that lying with Jou in his arms felt pretty comfortable, but he'd never admit that to anyone out loud. He felt Jou lean against his chest completely, resting his head on Seth's chest and softly sigh ina way that actually seemed to be content. He subconsciously tightened his hold on his pup – not that he'd admit that to anyone either - before falling asleep completely with a soft smile on his face.

A few moments after the four guys were asleep, ocean blue eyes snapped open and glanced around suspiciously, before Teana got up from her makeshift bed and exited the small oasis. After walking a few minutes so she'd be out of earshot, she saw a man on a black stallion waiting for her, "Well it took you long enough." an obvious male voice growled.

Teana just bowed before him in respect, "They weren't all asleep until just now." she replied.

"What news do you bring?" the rider asked uninterestedly.

"Nothing of importance. Seth has located the temple on the map and we're on our way there." Teana replied, "He thinks we can get there by tomorrow.

"Good, Master Dakuso will be pleased to hear this. Return to the group." The rider then turned his horse the other way around and galloped off, leaving Teana to stand there.

Teana quickly made her way back to the group and made herself comfortable in the robes again before she too drifted off into slumber.

* * *

Seth felt something next to him shift and groaned softly. He subconsciously held on tighter to what was in his arms so to make it stop moving. _'Wait… something in my arms…?'_ His eyes snapped open but he had to blink a few times against the bright light of Ra's rays before he could focus on his surroundings. He glanced down to what he was holding to see Jou snuggling close to him with a soft smile on his face. 

Seth blinked but then remembered what had happened the night before. He quickly glanced around to see Atemu, Yuugi and Teana still asleep, and let out a sigh of relief; if his cousin ever found him like this, he'd seriously never hear the end of it.

He let go of Jou and slowly moved away from the blonde, making sure not to wake the other. He held his breath as Jou groaned softly and shifted, missing the warmth of Seth's body, but didn't wake up. Seth got up and walked towards the small pool of water in the middle of the oasis.

He heard someone else walk over to him as he washed his face and saw Atemu's sleepy reflection in the water beneath him, "Good morning Atemu." he smirked as he looked at his friend, "Sleep well?" he asked innocently.

Atemu was still to sleepy to retort to such things as teasing right now, and just kneeled beside his cousin to wash his own face, choosing to ignore the widening smirk on Seth's face.

"I'll take your silence as a yes then." Seth said.

"Jealous?" Atemu asked just as innocently as Seth had. The cold water had woken him up enough to start taunting and teasing Seth as well now.

Seth rolled his eyes, "I'm not the one with a crush."

Atemu just smirked knowingly before getting up and walking back to Yuugi so he could wake the other up, "Go wake up Jou and Teana, we should leave as soon as possible."

"Yes your Majesty." Receiving a fierce glare in reply, Seth smirked and walked over to Jou.

"Hey Mutt, wake up." he said indifferently as he shook Jou. Jou let out a groan once again before opening his eyes groggily and glaring at Seth.

"Stop callin' me dat and do I really hafta get up?"

"Our all powerful Prince has ordered it." Seth said, loud enough so that Atemu would definitely hear.

Atemu glared at his cousin once more before sitting down next to Yuugi and gently shaking him, "Yuugi, wake up." Yuugi groaned and turned around, not wanting to wake up yet. Atemu let out a sigh and pulled Yuugi up a bit so he was sitting in his lap.

Yuugi immediately opened his eyes to look at what was holding him. He blushed as he saw Atemu gently smiling at him.

"It's time to get up, we're leaving." the Prince said. Yuugi just nodded - still blushing - and got up to wash his face as well.

After about half an hour they were all done and ready to leave again, off into the scorching hot desert.

Atemu tried to use his shadow powers to keep everybody cool this time, but the Millennium Puzzle had yet to recover from the day before and a little of the night, so after a few hours, the power was gone and the group was left at Ra's mercy.

There was no oasis in sight where they could rest up and the fact that it seemed even hotter than the day before wasn't really helping either.

There didn't seem to be any cities nearby either. Seth glanced at the map before groaning.

"What's wrong Seth?" Jou asked.

Seth sighed, "We're getting close to the temple." he muttered.

"Isn't dat a good ting?" Jou couldn't understand why Seth was cranky about this. Wasn't it the point to get to the temple?

"No, it also means there will be no more cities and we need somewhere to rest."

"Well then we'll just have to hope there's an oasis along the way." Atemu grumbled. He was glad they were almost there, but he knew they needed rest. More important to him; his little one looked about ready to faint. Yuugi's eyes were only half opened and his vision was unfocused. He was sweating all over and Atemu could see he was having trouble with just sitting in the saddle without falling out.

Not only that, but the wind was picking up and if Atemu looked very carefully ahead, he could see the sand raging.

"And I think we should worry more about the sandstorm up ahead." he muttered.

Seth peered ahead and his eyes widened, "Shit, and there's no shelter here."

"We're screwed." Jou groaned.

The sandstorm reached them quickly and soon, everyone was having trouble going forward or even seeing a few inches in front of them. The horses were already tired from the long walk in the desert and therefor had almost no strength left to fight the sandstorm.

"We have to stick together!" Seth called out to all the others, hoping his voice would reach them over the storm.

Atemu glanced at Yuugi again to see the teen almost dropping off his horse. Atemu reacted quickly and – not caring about what would happen to him – jumped off his horse to catch his little angel. Of course this meant that the sandstorm was pulling even harder on him now. He could hear Seth's faint voice yell at him, but he couldn't even make out what his cousin's words were as he felt the storm push him away from his friends.

He tightened his hold on Yuugi, hoping against hope that even if the storm separated him from the others, Yuugi and he would at least still be together. He heard his horse give a loud whinny and gallop past them before his entire world went black.

"Fuck! Atemu's gone! I can't see him anymore." Seth yelled.

"Well I can't see a ting so dat doesn't say much." Jou yelled back.

Seth glanced around, looking for the female brunette of the group, but couldn't find her anywhere, "Teana!" he called out, hoping she'd call back, but he didn't get any response, "Ra-damnit! Teana's gone as well!"

"What?" Jou asked, fear evident in his voice.

Not ready to lose the last of his companions, Seth led his horse - with great difficutly - towards Jou, and grabbed the blonde's arm.

At the sudden contact, Jou yelped and lost his balance. He fell towards the person who had just grabbed his arm and could feel himself being pulled onto an other horse, "Relax Mutt, it's only me." he heard Seth murmur as strong arms encircled him.

"Thanks Seth." Jou said before he was thrown against Seth's chest as a gust of wind and sand hit them both, and they fell off the horse. Hearing the frantic whines of Seth's black mare and Jou's brown one, they looked up to see their horses galloping away.

"Dis is _so_ not good!" Jou cried out frantically. He clung to Seth so they wouldn't get separated in the sandy blizzard, as Seth also tightened his grip on the blonde.

* * *

Atemu groaned as he slowly opened his eyes and blinked against the bright light of Ra once again. He looked around expecting to see his friends there, but only sand met his eyes. Then it hit him, _'The sandstorm! Yuugi!'_ Frantically searching his surroundings for his little angel, he got up and walked around, not caring where he was or where he was going. All he knew was that he had to find his little one. 

After what seemed like forever to Atemu, he saw a speck of black tipped with violet in the middle of all the sand. He quickly ran over to what he knew to be Yuugi, to find the said boy unconscious and breathing heavily, _'He needs water, and he needs it now.'_ Shot through Atemu's head. He took the bottle with water he carried with him - not even wondering how it managed to survive the sandstorm - to see it was almost empty. Not really caring, he took Yuugi in his arms and made the younger teen drink the last of the clear liquid.

Yuugi slowly opened his eyes to meet worried crimson rubies staring at him. He groaned as he pulled himself up into a sitting position and grabbed his head as he was hit by a dizzy spell, "What happened?" he muttered, trying to see straight again.

"A sandstorm hit us and we got separated from the others." Atemu answered, "Are you alright?" Yuugi looked at Atemu and gave him a slight smile.

"Yeah, I think so. I'm just feeling dizzy." Yuugi shook his head to get rid of his dizziness, but it only got worse, "Any idea where the others are?"

"No, but we'll find them somehow." Atemu said confidently. He cast worried crimson eyes on Yuugi once again as the other was still holding his head, "Can you walk? You really don't look too good."

Yuugi tried to get up and stand on his feet but fell back into two strong arms as soon as he stood 'straight', "Ugh, I think that storm hit me too hard." he muttered, leaning against Atemu's well-toned chest.

"Well you weren't exactly looking good before the storm either. Maybe you have a sunstroke or something?" Atemu pulled Yuugi close to him. Yuugi still had unfocused vision and was obviously dizzy, holding his head to try and stop his world from spinning.

Yuugi groaned, "Well I haven't seen any illusions ye-" Atemu glanced down to his little angel to see the other staring into the desert, "I take that back," Yuugi muttered, "I just saw the old Pharaoh doing a happy dance in the middle of desert."

Worried, yet slightly amused at what Yuugi had seen, Atemu picked his little one up bridal style, "We need to find an oasis or something so you can cool down." he said and started off further into the desert. Yuugi just leaned his head against Atemu's shoulder and closed his eyes, instantly falling asleep.

Atemu sighed worriedly before once again begging the Puzzle with all his might to lead him to a place where they could rest. To his great surprise, the Puzzle lit up dimly before guiding him in a derection. Atemu just followed the pull of magics, still slightly amazed at how much magic the Puzzle actually held to still be helping him.

* * *

Seth slowly opened his eyes and looked around him, not really paying attention to the form in his arms. Sand… only sand. He groaned; this was obviously not his day. 

Hearing a groan near him, he glanced down to his arms and saw his pup slowly opening his honey brown eyes, before blinking cutely against the bright sunlight, "You okay, Mutt?"

"Would ya stop callin' me a Mutt." Jou grumbled, sending a glare to the ex-High Priest, "And yeah, I think I'm okay… Where are we?" he asked.

"Somewhere in the desert and probably far away from that damned cousin of mine." Seth muttered. He glared at the yellow sands surrounding him with such force that if sand could die, it surely would've done so now.

"Come on Seth, he was only tryin' ta save Yuug and ya know it," Jou grinned, "the two are just in love." Seth's glare turned to Jou who immediately inched away from the blue eyed brunette. He would've run for his life but the tall brunette was still holding him, _'Ra, it's like da guy has two personalities or somethin'. I think I like da personality of last night better dan dis one.'_

"Love is not important right now. If my cousin wants to bed Yuugi so much, so be it, but now is not the time for that." Seth snapped. He released Jou from his hold and stood up, straightening his robes as he did so.

Jou glared at the brunette and stood up as well, "Don't talk about Yuugi like dat." he hissed. No one spoke so disrespectful about his little buddy. He didn't care if Seth was stronger, more powerful or better; he'd defend his friends no matter what.

Seth was slightly taken aback by Jou's reaction and thought it was kind of cute in it's own way – though he'd never admit this and his appearance didn't show it. Of course, he quickly recovered and his temper flared. Nobody spoke to him like that! High Priest or no High Priest, he demanded respect!He raised his arm and swiftly slapped Jou across the face making, the blonde take a step back and wince at the contact. Seth glared even fiercer at Jou as the said boy softly rubbed the sore spot on his now red cheek, and stared at Seth in shock.

"Now shut up and let's go find that damned cousin of mine." Seth said – well more like demanded – with a glare, before taking out the map he had with him and trying to find their location, not even noticing the hurt look Jou gave him.

Jou just stayed quiet as Seth tried to find where they where on the map. He couldn't believe Seth had actually _hit_ him. Sure, he had seen that the brunette could have a temper, but to _hit_ him… he couldn't help but feel hurt. For a short while he had maybe thought Seth liked him, not only as a friend but maybe as more…

As Seth began to walk in the direction he obviously thought Atemu would be, Jou just followed, not even looking at the brunette anymore. If this was what Seth was really like... He shut his eyes tightly at the thought, _´No, don´t think like that!´_ He kept following the brunette while trying his best to convice himself that the Seth of last night was the real Seth, not this one.

* * *

"Slave! Wake up!" a rough male voice sounded as the owner roughly kicked the form on the ground. 

Teana slowly stirred and winced at the pain in her side, but didn't utter a word as she had already recognized the voice as it was the man Dakuso had send to her.

"Finally awake huh. Good, then you can get some water for me because I'm thirsty." the man said with obvious distaste sounding in his voice.

Teana looked around her confused. Where were Jou, Seth, Atemu and Yuugi? What happened? She racked her mind to remember the sandstorm that hit them, Seth yelling at Atemu for some reason and then… darkness. She figured she had fallen off her horse or something like that but still, shouldn't she be getting back to them?

"Uhm… Where are the others?" she asked quietly, trying to sound as respectful as she could.

The man snorted and glared at her, "Master Dakuso created that sandstorm so the group would be separated. He ordered me to get you out of there. When those idiots get back together you'll be placed back." he smirked, "That is, _if_ they can find each other again. Master Dakuso hopes they'll all die before that happens." He looked at Teana again and his expression twisted in disgust again, "Now where is that water I ordered you to bring me! There is an oasis in that direction." the man growled while pointing to his left where a small pond was, not even 10 feet away from them.

'_Lazy ass henchman.' _Teana thought but went to the pond with a bottle to get some water for the man anyway. After all, this man was her boss for now and who was she to go against his wishes… even if he was just being lazy right now.

She handed the bottle filled with cool water to the man and sat down in the shade on a big rock, waiting for the next thing the man would need her to do. Sighing, she stared into the desert impassively,_ 'I wonder what the others are doing right now…'

* * *

_

**And than was it for now guys. Ain´t I being nice to my chars? °sees readers shake their heads° Ah what do you know. I've got far worse things for them planned °looks at script° See! I've got this and this. OH! let's not forget about that! Anyeay, I hope you all enjoyed the chap and R&R!**


	9. Chapter 8: Why Can't Things Go Our Way?

**Hey guys, listen up cuz I've got a problem you won't like very much. I had a small fight with my mom (nothing serious really). It was about a bad grade i'd gotten and I knew that if I did get a bad grade for that specific test, my laptop would be taken away for a while... see where I'm going here? Yeah, exactly, my laptop is being taken away meaning I most likely won't be able to update very well so if I miss an update within the next 3 weeks, blame my mom. I'll try to update every Mondayat school but I don't know for how long I can do that cuz my mom doesn't want me doing that either I think (though I'm wondering how she's gonna check) Anyway, I think you can all be very glad that I had a couple of chapters in advance so I have enough chaps to update in these three weeks. Anyway, have fun with this chap and pray for me that I'll get to update on school. R&R people!

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--: 8 :--  
Why can't things go our way?

Yuugi awoke to something wet and cool being draped over him. He could feel his entire body sucking in the cold and he sighed contently. He'd been hot for way too long. "Yuugi?" a voice asked. The person was close to him, but Yuugi didn't want to open his eyes yet. For one; he was enjoying just lying here, and two; he was still trying to hold on to the dream he had just had – one including himself and Atemu actually – and opening your eyes always seemed to drive the dreams away.

"Yuugi?" the voice asked again, concern very much present in the deep silky voice. Yuugi sighed and slightly opened his eyes to see crimson orbs staring back at him. He just kept staring as the crimson eyes filled with relief at seeing Yuugi open his own eyes slightly. "Are you alright?" Yuugi was awake enough to recognize Atemu sitting right next to him now. He nodded slightly, but he immediately felt light-headed, making his world start spinning so he stopped and groaned.

Atemu saw Yuugi nod but then groan and close his eyes tightly. The sun stroke was obviously still there and affecting the younger boy. The concern returned to his eyes as he pulled Yuugi to him, hoping to soothe the boy a bit. He was glad Yuugi seemed to be recovering from the sun stroke though, because as he was pulled into Atemu's lap once again, he blushed and refused to meet Atemu's eyes, meaning he was fully conscious and knew what was going on around him – something that hadn't happened for the past four hours.

In the past four hours, Atemu had carried Yuugi around until he had found an oasis at long last. He had laid Yuugi down in the shadows before drenching his cloak and draping it over Yuugi's form to cool him off – something he had repeated a lot as the sun had dried the cloak too fast. Yuugi had sometimes seemed conscious but had spoken nothing but nonsense and incoherent sentences.

Atemu smiled and just held Yuugi even tighter to his chest, thankful that his little angel was recovering and adoring the blush on Yuugi's cheeks; it just made him look so cute, "Do you want some water?" he asked, grabbing a bottle full of water that he had placed next to Yuugi in the shades, hoping to keep it cool. Yuugi nodded and took the bottle as it was handed to him.

Yuugi quickly drank the water, only just having realizing how thirsty he actually was. After he was done, he felt a whole lot better and smiled at Atemu who put the bottle away again, "Thanks Atemu." He blushed as Atemu hugged him even closer, "You're welcome, Little One." A shiver ran down Yuugi's spine as Atemu's breath tickled his ear before leaning into the touch.

Atemu's smile widened as Yuugi relaxed in his arms and leaned into his chest. He slowly caressed Yuugi's cheek, wanting nothing else than to just bring Yuugi's face up and kiss him.

Yuugi looked up at Atemu, trying his best to beat down the deep blush on his face. He stared into those incredible crimson orbs and couldn't tear his gaze away from it.

Atemu just couldn't help himself anymore as he stared back into those big innocent, and not to mention, slightly clouded amethyst orbs. He slowly tilted Yuugi's chin a bit more and leaned down…

…to finally kiss the little angel he had wanted to kiss for so long now.

Yuugi's heart skipped a beat as he felt Atemu's lips press against his own. He was shocked, stunned and perplexed, but after he finally got over this shocked state, he wrapped his arms around the other's neck to pull him even closer and closed his eyes. Atemu's lips were soft and warm and tasted like the richest spices of all of Egypt. His hands entangled themselves in Atemu's soft hair and he moaned softly. Atemu nibbled on his bottom lip, begging for permission to enter and deepen the kiss even more. Yuugi parted his lips with a small gasp and felt Atemu's tongue sweep into his mouth.

Atemu moaned softly as he explored Yuugi's mouth, savouring the taste of his little angel. Letting one of his hands slip under Yuugi's robes, he pulled the other even closer, roaming Yuugi's back with his hand. Yuugi tasted like the finest nectar fit for kings alone. He wanted nothing more than to just stay like this and keep kissing his Little One – and go even further for that matter - but his need for oxygen made him pull away, panting slightly.

He stared into Yuugi's clouded eyes, slightly dazed himself, and caressed the other's cheek with his free hand lovingly – as the other was still resting under Yuugi's shirt, "I love you." he whispered softly.

Yuugi's heart started to beat even faster and he smiled as he heard Atemu say the words that he only heard the other say in his dreams. Snuggling against the others' chest, he whispers; "I love you too."

Atemu smiled at Yuugi lovingly and tilted his head upwards to kiss him again, more passionate this time. The little voice in Atemu's head caem back with full force, already whispereing for Atemu to go further. Atemu's mind was too clouded with pleasure to even notice what he was doing all to well as his hand began to pull Yuugi's shirt off. However, they broke apart at hearing someone clear their throat and looked up to see icy blue and honey brown eyes staring at them.

* * *

Seth stared at the map absentmindedly, glancing behind him from time to time to check on Jou. Every time he looked, he could also see the bruise that was starting to form onthe other'scheek and cursed his temper. He sighed, _'I really need to learn to control my temper.'_

He looked back at the map to see they were still going to the oasis he had found. He had overlooked it when he first checked the map since it was only a small one and was barely seen on the piece of papyrus in his hands. When he was checking the map again, his eyes fell on it. He knew the Millennium Puzzle would somehow lead his cousin to the oasis – although he had no idea how.

Seeing they were still going the right way, he glanced back again. Jou was silently walking behind him, looking at the ground and obviously in though. Seth could sometimes see hurt flashing through his honey brown eyes. _'Am I supposed to apologize or something? No, he started it. I might not be the High Priest anymore at the moment, but that doesn't mean he can talk to me like that.'_ He shook his head and looked ahead of him determinedly.

Jou followed the tall brunette in front of him, glancing up sometimes to check if the other was still there, but mostly kept staring at the ground.

He still couldn't believe Seth had slapped him. He glanced up briefly to see Seth staring ahead of him determinedly, before glancing back. Their eyes met for a brief second before they both glanced away as fast as they could.

Jou looked at the ground sadly. He really didn't want to act like this around Seth but he had slapped him for nothing! They were only arguing, nothing all that serious. Jou knew that Seth hadn't really meant what he said about Yuugi but his own protective side of his friends had popped up. Well... he hoped Seth hadn't meant what he had said. He was still very much doubting the brunette's seemingly split personality. He let out a sigh, _'What am I supposed to do? He won't apologize, and I've got nothin' to apologize for! Maybe he really is as cold-hearted as he's being right now...'_

They kept walking in silence, both pondering what they were supposed to do. Finding the silence too unbearable, Seth let out a sigh, slowed his pace until he was next to Jou, and swallowed his pride, "Jou?"

Jou looked up with a start, not expecting Seth to be right next to him, "Yeah?" he said. It sounded a bit too angry for his taste and he regretted the tone immediately when he looked into the other's icy blue eyes. They looked as emotionless as ever at first glance, but Jou saw past this and could see how much Seth was fighting with himself.

"I'm-" Seth swallowed; apologizing wasn't exactly something he did a lot. The only people he had ever apologized to were Atemu, his father, and the Pharaoh – though the latter had been only so his head wouldn't be chopped off, not because he was truly sorry for what he had done, "I'm sorry… for slapping you." he muttered softly, almost inaudible. He looked at the ground, not wanting to meet Jou's eyes.

Jou blinked in shock at what Seth had said but smiled. He hadn't really expected Seth to apologize – let alone this soon, "It's okay." he replied, smiling slightly. The other looked up and their eyes met again – longer this time – before Seth gave a small smile. Jou's heart skipped a beat at seeing the sincere smile – no matter how small – on Seth's face. He was glad his thoughts of Seth being cold-hearted and non-caring had been proven wrong -though the slightest bit of doubt remained in his mind, locked far away.

They fell into another silence – though a comfortable this time – as they both walked on and stared ahead. After another half an hour of walking, they could finally see the oasis lying ahead of them.

"Look! Dere it is." Jou exclaimed as he grabbed Seth's arm and dragged the other with him to the oasis.

As they got closer, Seth heard a soft moan coming from the other side of the rock they were facing. Jou and he exchanged questioning glances, before they walked around the rock to see Atemu and Yuugi kissing fierce and passionately. Atemu's hand was under Yuugi's robes and was slowly pulling the material off. Both boys' hair was tousled and their clothes messy.

Jou and Seth both stared in shock for a second before Seth cleared his throat to grab the attention of the two boys sitting against the rock. They broke apart and looked up at Seth and Jou with clouded and dazed looks in their eyes.

"Seth!" Atemu blinked in surprise at seeing his cousin staring at him. The other's expression changed into a smirk that just seemed to scream; 'I-told-you-so.'

Yuugi, still half dazed, blushed bright crimson and stared at the ground nervously, though not moving an inch out of the embrace he was in. he could feel Seth smirking at them and heard Jou snicker softly, trying his best not to burst into laughter.

"Well I see you haven't really been missing us." Seth smirked at the glare Atemu threw at him.

"Jealous?" Atemu's gaze flicked to Jou for a split-second before returning to Seth. He smirked as his cousin rolled his eyes and glared slightly. He glanced back at Yuugi to see his little angel staring at he ground with a huge blush on his face. He tilted Yuugi's face to meet his and planted a light kiss on Yuugi lips before lying him down on the ground to rest the last bits of sunstroke off. After making sure Yuugi was lying comfortable, he stood up, "So how did you find us?"

"I found this oasis on the map when I looked at it better." Seth answered, "It's not even all that far away from the temple."

"But we gotta find Teana first." Jou pointed out, "And we don't have a clue where she is."

Seth and Atemu let out a sigh. Jou had a very good point. They couldn't just leave Teana out there, but the desert was big and they had no idea where to start looking.

"We'll stay here for the night; we can't go anywhere as long as Yuugi is in this state anyway. Maybe Teana will find this place." Atemu said, knowing that the last part was almost impossible. Seth and Jou both agreed – they didn't have a better plan anyway. Besides, they were tired and could use the rest.

* * *

"They found each other quite quickly." Teana looked up at the cranky expression of her temporary Master, "Master Dakuso won't be happy with that. He had hoped that at least one of them would die." The man looked down at Teana with a hateful glare, "I guess it's time for you to go back in that case." 

Wincing when her wrist was grabbed painfully, Teana was dragged to the black stallion of her Master. The man mounted the horse and roughly pulled her onto the beautiful beast as well, before the both of them rode into the desert.

Without any warning, the man pushed Teana off the horse without even slowing down the slightest bit. Teana fell to the ground painfully and stared at the dust cloud the man left in his wake.

'_Bastard.' _Teana glared at the retreating form with all her might but the man was soon out of sight. Teana looked around and saw that the oasis where Yuugi and the others were, wasnowhere in sight. Sighing, she just laid there, knowing that the man had pushed her off at this spot for a reason and that she had to stay put.

Night soon came as Ra disappeared under the horizon and cold took over the desert. Teana shivered fiercely, praying to every god that she would be found by one of her group or that Master Dakuso would pity her enough to help her somehow… neither happened.

With only her thin robes to keep her warm, she felt like every limb of her body was slowly freezing. It took another hour before darkness finally claimed her and she fell into unconsciousness.

* * *

A poke in her side and warmth was what greeted Teana when she woke up. She groaned as she was poked again, harder this time, followed by a firm shove. She woke up a bit more and could now make out voices arguing over something, 

"Not so rough, Seth!"

"Oh shut up, Mutt. She has to wake up, doesn't she?"

"STOP CALLIN' ME MUTT!"

"Guys, stop arguing."

"Stay out of this Yuug. This is something between me and him!"

"Oh don't glare at me like that Atemu! I can't help it if the Mutt insulted your boyfriend!"

A groan snapped the attention of the small group back to the figure lying on the desert sand.

Teana slowly stirred and opened her eyes to see Jou, Yuugi, Seth and Atemu standing around her. Everyone – except for Seth of course – looked at her worriedly.

"Are you okay Teana?" Yuugi asked. He stretched out his hand for Teana to take and to help her get up.

Teana gladly took Yuugi's hand but winced as felt pain all over her body as she was helped up.

"Ugh, my body hurts all over." she groaned.

"What happened to ya when da sandstorm hit?" Jou asked curiously.

"My horse went ballistic and took off. I tried to call for help but you guys didn't hear me. I fell off my horse at some point and the sandstorm was raging so badly, it must've blown me ever further away from you guys." The man – of whom even Teana didn't know the name of – had made the excuse up and Teana just hoped the others would believe her.

Seth narrowed his eyes slightly on the girl in front of him. For some reason, he didn't believe what she had said. The sandstorm might've been blocking out a lot of sound, but he would've definitely heard a cry for help through it.

He glanced at the others to see the same doubt in his cousin's eyes, but Yuugi and Jou seemed to believe her completely. He decided to give her the benefit of the doubt for now – why would she lie to them after all?

"We're glad you're okay. We thought we'd never find you." Yuugi hugged his childhood friend tightly. He turned back and giggled softly at the slightly jealous expression on Atemu's face.

Teana was handed a bottle of water and she quickly drank some of the cool liquid. Her throat felt like a piece of parchment as she hadn't drunk anything since she and the man had left the small hidden oasis.

"So what happened to you guys?" Teana asked after she was done drinking and they had started walking again.

"Well, we got separated in da sandstorm. Seth and me got into a fight but he apologized." at this Seth glared at the blonde. Not everybody had to know that he had actually _apologized_, "After dat we found Atemu and Yuugi in an oasis." Jou smirked at the two said boys and Yuugi immediately went bright crimson, "They were sitting quite comfortably together."

Teana looked at Atemu and Yuugi questioningly. Atemu just smirked and pulled Yuugi close to him before turning the smaller teen around and kissing him.

Teana's mouth dropped to the ground in shock. It wasn't that she hadn't seen that the two liked each other, but she hadn't expected them to get together so fast.

"Oh stop it, Atemu. I think you made your point." Seth said; a slight hint of jealousy edged into his voice though nobody seemed to notice.

Atemu reluctantly pulled away, drawing a disapproving groan from Yuugi.

He threw a slight glare at his cousin as the other shoved him forward so they'd start walking again.

They walked on as Ra's heat pounded on them mercilessly, only slowly progressing since they no longer had any horses.

After hours and hours of walking, Seth finally noticed a large structure in the distance. Before he could even point the building out to the others, the sand beneath them shook and stirred slightly for a moment, before a large creature shot up from the ground.

The beast - as far as they could see it - was 20 feet tall and had a worm-like appearance. The thing didn't seem to have any eyes or a nose, but had a large muzzle filled with razor sharp pearly teeth. Its skin was a pinkish colour, though it wasn't the same pink everywhere on its body.

"What in Ra's name is that!" Seth yelled in shock as he saw the worm-like creature shooting out from the ground.

"I don't know and I don't feel like finding out either!" Atemu called back as he pulled a shocked and scared Yuugi behind him and summoned his shadow magic. He was very thankful that he hadn't used any of it in a while and that the power had been replenished for the most.

The creature let out a roar-like sound and charged at them, ready to sink its teeth into its prey.

The Puzzle around Atemu's neck flashed brightly before dimming down as Atemu quickly summoned his Dark Magician to fight the worm beast.

Seth gathered every ounce of shadow magic in his body and summoned his Blue Eyes White Dragon - though since he didn't posses a Millennium Item, it cost him a lot more energy.

Both magician and dragon materialized and blasted the worm to stop its attack on their masters and friends.

The worm was blasted against the ground, but got up without any visible damage. To be exact, the only thing the attacks had seemingly done was enrage the giant creature.

The Dark Magician and the Blue Eyes White Dragon kept attacking the beast, but it didn't seem to have that much effect on the creature. The pink skin seemed to serve as armour that neither monster could penetrate with their attacks.

"What now? Dey won't hold on for dat much longer." Jou said nervously as he watched the Dark Magician being thrown against the desert sand. He subconsiously backed away slightly to stand near Seth.

"We need to get to the temple. I think that building over there is it. If we can get there before our monsters are killed, we're safe." Seth said as he pointed at the structure he had seen before.

Everyone looked in the direction Seth was pointing and saw the building in the distance. They quickly nodded in agreement. Atemu glanced up at the two fighting monsters and prayed that they would hold on long enough for them to get there. If they would die before that, Seth and he would go with them.

They ran towards the building as fast as they could – though this wasn't very fast since they were running on sand. The attacks the monsters fired raised waves of sand and the worm beast was causing earthquakes as it moved. This all slowed the group of friends down, but they kept running.

When suddenly the noise behind them stopped, the group glanced back to see both magician and dragon in the air, looking around them, but there was no sign of the worm.

They stopped dead in their tracks as an earthquake shook the sand beneath them and the worm once again shot out of the earth right in front of them, only this time it didn't wait to attack. It charged at them as soon as it had left the sand, bearing his pearly teeth and intending to kill the intruders.

* * *

**Well that was it. Ghehe, maybe it's a good thing I might not be around with an ending like this... Oh yeah, what did you think of the kiss people? My first real discriptive kiss! Well hopefully cya all Monday. R&R cuz you're all feeling sooooooo sorry for me and want to cheer me up!**


	10. Chapter 9: The Temple of the God Tablets

**Hey people! See! I'm updating even though I don´t even have a laptop at the moment.. Actually, it's the middle f the night and I'm using my dad's comp without him knowing it...Hope you all enjoy  
Oh, I got an annonymous review from someone named CW saying that he/she thought the plot reminded her of the game ' Forbidden Momories' . Well I'll have to congratulate her/him cuz he/she is the first one to notice where I got the idea for the fic though my plot is totally different by now.  
****Anyway, thanx to all my reviewers and have fun with the next chap! R&R people!****

* * *

**

--: 9 :--  
- - - - - The Temple of the God Tablets

Knowing that he alone did not have the energy to summon another monster to save them, and that the other two monsters were too far away to do anything, Atemu grabbed Yuugi's hand and used his Shadow Magic in a way, that he could use Yuugi's energy to summon a new monster. Of course this monster would be under Yuugi control and would also be the other's Ka, meaning that Atemu didn't have the faintest idea what kind of monster this would summon and that if it died, Yuugi would die with it.

The Millennium Puzzle flashed brightly once again as a new monster materialized in front of them. Atemu closed his eyes in desperation as he saw the new monster – if you could even call it that.A cutebrown fuzz ball with small green claw-like hands floated in front of them.

"Kuree?" the small monster looked around and saw the large beast charging at him and his master – who had collapsed into Atemu's arms as he had never summoned anything before, let alone right after a sunstroke

Although the monster knew that his master was not used to fighting like this,it took more energy from the boy so he could defend the small group behind him.

Bracing themselves for the impact and death itself, the group tried to shield themselves with their arms as a natural reaction… but the impact never came. Hearing the noise of small explosions in front of them, they looked up at what had happened and stared in pure amazement at the scene in front of them.

The worm had stopped charging for them as thousands of fuzz balls surrounded it, making it impossible to get to them. Small waves of smoke still lingered in the air where the monster had touched one of the fuzz balls, which had exploded at contact.

Atemu could only stare at the creatures protecting him and his friends in stunned shock. The monster had looked weak at first and he was sure that it could never fight, but by multiplying itself, it had created an unbreakable wall that would defend them. He looked down at his little one in his arms to see the other only half conscious now, as he had obviously lost a great amount of energy.

"We have to move, _now!_" Seth ordered when he got over his shock. The Dark Magician and Blue Eyes White Dragon had flown over to them, and were let through the wall of fuzz balls so they could fight the worm again.

One of the fuzz balls floated over to them, cooing happily at them. Yuugi glanced up absently at the monster and immediately regained a bit more conscious out of pure shock, "Kuriboh?" he muttered disbelievingly, before looking at Atemu for an explanation as to why a monster from his deck was now floating right in front of him.

"No time to explain, later." Atemu said hastily as he picked Yuugi up bridal-style, and they ran to the temple again.

The wall of Kuriboh seemed to move as they did, making sure that the group was safely behind them so no harm would come to them. On the other side, the worm was still fighting with the Dark Magician and the Blue Eyes White Dragon. The worm still held the upper hand over them, though each time it was thrown against the wall of fuzz balls, the Kuriboh would explode, weakening the worm beast. The exploded Kuriboh would then simply be replaced by new ones so the worm had no chance of getting through.

The Dark Magic and White Lightning attacks finally seemed to do some damage, though the two monsters firing these attacks were in a bad state; they wouldn't last much longer.

Finally reaching the steps that led to the temple entrance, both Seth and Atemu called their monsters off so they wouldn't get killed. The worm roared again as it tried to get through the wall of Kuriboh, making the fuzz balls explode and damagingthewormeven more.

As the small group reached the top of the steps, Atemu let go of Yuugi's hand – which he had been holding the entire time – which stopped the flow of shadow magic fuelling the other to keep the Kuriboh in this world. As soon as this flow stopped, the Kuriboh disappeared and the worm charged for them once again though it was already to late; the group was inside the temple and the creature could no longer reach them.

The group ran into the building and stopped when they reached a large dimly lit room to rest. Atemu sat Yuugi down against the wall, before collapsing on the ground out of pure exhaustion. Not only had he been running for his life through sand, but his Dark Magician had been very close to dying. He glanced up at Yuugi who had lost all consciousness and was now sleeping peacefully

Seth was lying on his back panting heavily. Since he didn't have a Millennium Item, it took him even more energy than Atemu to keep his Blue Eyes in this world. At the moment, he wanted nothing more than to just fall asleep.

Jou and Teana were the only ones still standing – though panting heavily as well – as they had been the only ones that hadn't summoned a monster.

Jou sat down next to Seth and looked around to see that Atemu and Seth were too tired to stay awake much longer, and that Teana had lied down for some rest as well. Deciding that he could use a bit of sleep too, he lay down and closed his eyes. Soon he, Teana, Seth and Atemu followed Yuugi into slumber, finally able to rest.

* * *

Amethyst eyes slowly opened as sunlight from one of the cracks in the walls shone directly into them. Yuugi groaned and turned his head away, trying to get rid of the bright light. He crawled away to trip over something lying on the ground and falling on top of the said thing. 

He glanced down as he heard a groan beneath him, and saw Atemu opening his eyes with a slight glare in his eyes.

Atemu's vision focused and he saw Yuugi sprawled on top of him with an apologetic look already on his face. The glare on his face was replaced by an amused look as he pulled the other into his arms, "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Yuugi smiled at him, "Better, now are you going to explain what happened and how in Ra's name my Kuriboh was floating above me?"

"It's your Ka. I used my Puzzle to give you the Shadow Magic you needed to summon it so it could protect us, but because you're not used to summoning, it cost you a lot of energy." Atemu explained. More groans were heard as both Jou and Seth rose slightly.

"Could you two be quiet?" Seth growled crankily at Atemu and Yuugi.

"Nope, time to get up sleeping beauty." Atemu smirked at the glare Seth threw at him.

Waking himself up completely, Seth looked around the chamber they were in. It was only dimly lit by light coming through small cracks in the stone walls. The walls of the room were worn by time, and moss covered fragments of it. On small pieces you could still see writings, though it was mostly worn away and unreadable. The chamber itself was empty save for him and the others. Dust covered the ground showing that no one had entered this room in a long time.

"Could use some furniture." Jou remarked as he looked around as well.

Seth shook his head muttering, "Baka." under his breath, before glancing at the last of their group who was still lying on the ground. He let out a sigh as he stood up to wake her up – receiving a glare from Jou as he hadn't woken the girl up the 'proper' way the last time – and lightly pushed the girl, hoping she´d wake up.

Teana let out a groan as she felt the shove in her side and opened her eyes to glare at the person who had woken her up. As soon as she saw that it had been Seth who had woken her up, her glare faltered under Seth's.

Seeing that Jou was about to comment on the glare Seth was giving Teana-which would obviously lead to a new fight between the two -Atemu quickly interrupted them by clearing his throat and giving them both a look that said; 'start-fighting-and-die'.

Although Jou immediately backed off, Seth merely rolled his eyes and looked around the room again to see if he could find a passage leading deeper into the temple.

On one side was the door that led outside, which let more light enter the chamber they were in. On the other side of the room was a dark passage, obviously leading deeper into the building. The passage was in a dark corner with cobwebs covering parts of the entrance.

"So is everybody ready for this?" Atemu asked, following his cousin's gaze to the entrance of the passage.

Jou and Teana nodded hesitantly, though Seth and Yuugi didn't seem to have any doubts about this at all.

Getting up, the small group walked over to the entrance, cleared it of the cobwebs blocking it, and entered the passage; Atemu and Yuugi holding hands first, then Seth, and last Jou and Teana.

Darkness soon consumed the five-some, and they had to use the walls as guidance. Atemu could sense the Shadow Magic all around them, getting stronger as they went deeper into the temple. Feeling Yuugi tighten the grip on his hand, he pulled the other closer to him, hoping to reassure his angel a bit, though he himself was as nervous as ever.

Fortunately for them, they reached a small, dimly lit room after not too much time. The room was lit by only one small torch in the middle of the room, standing on a small platform; all other sources of light were blocked by the walls.

Before them was a door made of heavy stone. They looked at each other questioningly, before trying to open the heavy door to no avail.

Jou let out a frustrated growl, "How in da name of Ra are we supposed to go on if da damned door is too heavy to budge even da slightest bit!" he growled, kicking the door - which of course led to him wincing as the stone was quite hard, and didn't move an inch. He cursed darkly under his breath and glared at the door with all his might – which also had no effect.

"Seth smirked at the blonde and had to suppress laughing at the other's antics-though he too was getting annoyed with the door. Atemu had already tried to use his Shadow Magic to try and blast the door – among other things – but so far, nothing had worked.

"So… what now?" Yuugi asked unsurely. He'd been sitting on the ground as the others had tried to open the door, knowing he wasn't strong enough to help in any way. At seeing shrugs and hearing frustrated sighs, he let himself fall back and stared at the ceiling, much like Atemu could do at times.

"The door won't open until you pass my test." Yuugi looked up startled at the new, unfamiliar voice, and looked behind him. A man dressed in white robes and a white turban on his head looked at him with empty eyes that seemed to hold no emotion.Yuugi shivered under the lifeless gaze and subconsciously crawled back at bit towards Atemu.

Atemu looked at the man suspiciously, "Who are you and what do you mean by that." he demanded. He had already been very annoyed because of the door not opening and a stranger sneaking up on them did not not improve his mood.

"I am Shadi, the guardian of this temple and also the one that will test you here. If you can pass this test, the door will open itself for you, if you cannot, you will fall to the shadows like those before you." the man, Shadi, said in a monotone voice.

"What kind of test?" Seth asked as he too looked at the man suspiciously. A man appearing out of nowhere did no good to his already tense nerves.

Shadi smiled – though it held no happiness or even cruelty; it was as empty as his eyes were, "You must solve my riddle." he said simply.

Atemu and Seth glanced at each other. That was all? Just solving a riddle? What was the catch, it couldn't be that easy.

"I assure you that there is no catch gentleman. If you solve my riddle the door will open. Just remember, if you fail to solve it your souls will fall to the shadows." Shadi said as if he had read Atemu and Seth's thoughts – something they thought was very possible right now.

"Any other rules?" Jou asked nervously. He didn't like the idea of losing his soul if he couldn't solve some riddle, especially since he was no good at it. Solving riddles was more Yuugi's thing.

"You must solve it in ten minutes." Shadi said as if it wasn't really that important. Come to think of, it probably wasn't to him. He probably already thought they'd lose anyway, so who cared about how much time they had.

The five friends glanced at each other and nodded – the one more hesitant than the other.

"Fine, we'll solve your riddle." Atemu spoke.

The man nodded,

"_I can run swiftly and silently when you want me to stay still,  
I can move slowly and cautiously and am yours to fill.  
You look at me often and yet you always forget me,  
I am the most feared killer, yet you can't live without me.  
Sometimes you have me for all to spare,  
Yet when you need me, I am not there.  
You can waste me, or cherish me, you choose the track,  
But once you're done with me, you can never get me back  
What am I?"_

Everybody in the room stared blankly at Shadi, who merely stared back with a bored look, "You have ten minutes. I suggest you use those wisely."

Everybody immediately snapped back to reality and started to ponderaboutthe riddle Shadi had given them. Well everybody but Jou who just sat down with a defeated sigh as he knew he couldn't be of any help here. He watched as the others thought of the answer to the – to Jou – impossible to solve riddle.

Atemu was pacing back and forth in the small room, muttering the words of the riddle under his breath to himself. He was obviously getting nowhere.

Seth was glaring at the wall opposite him while deep in thought. His glare obviously showed that he couldn't think of an answer so far either.

Teana was just staring blankly at her hands. Her eyes were glazed over but Jou had the strange feeling that she wasn't thinking about the riddly. He pushed the thought aside and glanced at the last of their group.

Yuugi – who was the best at these things according to Jou – was still sitting on the cold floor, staring at the ground with a frown on his face. Jou rubbed his arm nervously; if even his little buddy couldn't solve the riddle, than no one could.

"Only one minute left." Shadi said after a while. Atemu, Seth and Yuugi all groaned. They had so far come up with nothing that even came close to a good answer.

"Guys? Anything? Please tell me ya thought of somethin'?" Jou pleaded. He received a frustrated look from Atemu, a sigh from Yuugi, nothing from Teana, and a glare from Seth.

"Does it look like we thought of anything, Mutt?" Seth snapped at him.

Jou glared back at the brunette, "Well I'm no good at stuff like dis and time is runnin' out!" he snappen back.

Yuugi's face suddenly lit up. You could practically see the words, 'I've got it!' above him, but nobody seemed to notice since they were all busy with other things.

"Your ten minutes are up. What is your answer?" Shadi asked.

Atemu bowed his head in defeat, Seth felt like banging his head against the wall, Teana finally snapped out of her trance, but didn't make any move to answer, and Jou felt like joining Seth at the wall. Yuugi held back a giggle at the faces his friends were making and walked up to the man, "I know what the answer is." he said with a smirk that reminded everybody of Atemu a little bit too much.

"You're rubbing off on him." Seth muttered softly at Atemu who just nodded with his own smirk on his face obviously stating, 'I'm so proud of him!'.

Shadi looked at Yuugi unmoved, though Yuugi knew the man hadn't expected any of them to even have the slightest idea what his riddle had been about, "The answer is time." the smug look on his face was hard to miss.

The man stared at Yuugi for a moment before he nodded and disappeared in a wisp of shadowy mist. The door that had been impossible to open before, suddenly opened to reveal another dark passage.

Everybody groaned. They were glad Yuugi had solved the riddle but they hated to go back into that blasted darkness.

"I guess we don't have a choice." Seth muttered before he stepped into the corridor and started walking. Jou and Teana gave another groan but followed Seth nonetheless.

Yuugi wanted to follow as well, but 'eep'ed as strong arms snaked around his waist and pulled him into a hug.

"You did great." Atemu murmered into Yuugi's ear. Yuugi giggled and turned around so he could face Atemu.

"Well Jou gave me the idea really, so he deserves some credit as well."

Atemu smirked, "I'll leave it to Seth to thank him." he said before leaning down and kissing Yuugi. He pulled away after a bit as he heard Seth cursing in the passage up ahead. His cousin had obviously noticed that he and Yuugi hadn't followed yet, "Come on, we better go before Seth decides to kill me."

Yuugi giggled again, his cheeks still tinted red from the kiss, and started into the passage. They soon caught up with the cursing Seth – who they knew was glaring at them even though they couldn't see it – and continued their way.

They walked through the darkness for a long time until they saw a faint light up ahead. The whole group ran as fast as they could towards the light - all having gone crazyin the thick depressing blackness.

The room they entered had – like the last one - no windows or cracks in the wall to let sunlight through. The dim light they had seen in the passage was coming from torches against the walls, lit with Shadow Magic. The walls themselves were worn and the hieroglyphics written on them couldn't be read anymore.

Seth scanned the room carefully for any sort of traps hidden in it, and frowned at not seeing any passage leading deeper into the temple, "There's no passage." he muttered, looking over the room once more.

"Den how in Ra's name are we supposed to go on!" Jou exclaimed in frustration. The darkness hadn't exactly been good for his mood and now this. If anything else went wrong, he was sure he'd blow a fuse.

"Wait, what's that?" Everybody looked at Atemu as the former Prince walked to the other side of the room and stopped in front of the wall there. Curious, the others followed him and looked at what Atemu had seen.

A small tablet with hieroglyphics engraved on it showed the seemingly only readable text in the entire room.

_Only in a dream  
Can these fears be seen  
Face thou fears with all thou might  
Face thou fears and fight  
If thou fail thou soul shall pay the price  
So turn around and act wise_

Atemu re-read the text carefully after reading it out loud to the others, and frowned, "Uhm… does anybody get it?"

Seth let out a sigh, "It's probably just another test in which you have to conquer your fears or something." he snorted, "Like I have fears big enough to stop me from passing."

"I dunno Seth, I'm sure dey made it hard." Jou said, "So how do we start exactly cuz I don't think any of us're leavin' and I don´t see an annoyin´ guardian around ta tell us what ta do either."

Not even a second after Jou had finished his sentence, the tablet with the hieroglyphics started to glow and Atemu could feel the Shadow Magic in it growing. He pulled Yuugi close to him to protect the other, but it didn't do a thing. The entire group sank to the ground, seemingly asleep. The tablet slowly dimmed down again, though the Shadow Magic was still radiating of it in large amounts.

**

* * *

Okay, I'd just like to say that neither the riddle or the text on the tablet are mine. I got the riddle off a fic by Jazhira who got it off internet somewhere. You should all go read her HPxYGO crossover btw cuz it's a really good story and cuz I say so °gets hit by a friend for acting like she owns the world° OUCH! Urgh, don't hit me or I won't tell them that you were the one who wrote the damned text for the tablet! °friend rolls eyes and looks at Moony in a bored way° Ungrateful °mutters darkly under breath° Anyway, as I was saying before I was interrupted. My friend wrote the text for the tablet. She is also a authoress on this site so you should also go and read her fics. Her penname is Nalurah °Nalurah pushes Moony to the side and takes her place°  
Nalurah: Hello people! Yes, you should all come and read all my fics since I'm the mastermind behind all of this!  
Moony: Tss, you thought of the tittle, Dakuso's name, and the stupid text on the tablet and all of a sudden you're the mastermind behind this all! Who's the one writing this all?  
Nalurah: Technically, you. But that's not the point. The point is that all these readers should go and read my fics instead of yours cuz I'm just better than you.  
Moony: °muttering under breath° Kaiba  
Nalurah: Oh shut up. Anyway. R&R people! Especially my fics!**


	11. Chapter 10: Fear Factor

**Well hello people. I'd like to thank everybody who reviewed cuz I GOT PASSED THE 100 REVIEWS! °throws parry°****for some of you this might bu nothing but means a lot to me so thank you all. Ow, and guess what people? Coming Thrursday is by brithday! Well I'd like you all to send me money and gifts but I have a feeling you won't °sighs° so I guess you'll just have to review me evenmore than you normally do (not that I'm complaining, far from it). Anyway, here's the chap as promised and have fun ya'll! Ow, and don't forget to R&R of course.

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**

**--: 10 :--  
Fear Factor**

Amethyst eyes slowly opened and looked around in confusion at their unfamiliar surroundings. Nothingness and darkness was the only thing that met them.

Yuugi scanned his surroundings once more, trying desperately to find someone, but no one was around. Fear grew in his eyes, and he bit his bottom lip nervously.

"A-Atemu?" His voice was laced with fear, and the fear in his eyes grew greater as only his echo answered him. "Jou? Teana? Seth?" Still only his own echo answered him, and Yuugi began to shake slightly.

He stood up, and started searching for his friends in the seemingly endless darkness, wandering on and on. But as time passed, Yuugi grew more desperate as he found no one.

Tears started to form in his eyes, and after wandering a bit more, he broke down sobbing and shaking uncontrollably, "No… Not again… I don't want to be alone again…"

Flashbacks of his past filled his mind and he mentally relived all the times he had been alone… bullied.

He had been bullied a lot when he was young, and when his parents died the bullying had become more as he parents couldn't protect him anymore. He had been only 6 back then, and he had been left in his grandfather's care.

He had had no friends except for Teana, and the brunette was almost never there to protect him when the bullies came. Jou was one of the people bullying him back then, so he didn't really try to protect him either.

His grandfather had only been an old man, and though he loved to play games with Yuugi, he needed much rest. Yuugi had felt alone, unwanted, worthless.

As all the memories flooded Yuugi's mind, he started to cry harder until his body became numb, and he had no more tears to shed. His eyes were tightly shut and his mind was so consumed in his memories, that he didn't even know where he was anymore; he didn't even realize he was whispering the names of his friends pleadingly.

Suddenly, his friends were standing around him and Teana kicked him in his side. Yuugi opened his with misery filled eyes and for a short second, he thought they were coming to save him. But when he saw the expressions on his friends' faces, he drifted even more into despair; they looked disgusted of him.

"Well who do we have here? My favourite victim tA bully around." Jou said smirking at him.

"Why bother, it's not like he's worth our time." Seth snorted and gave him a downgrading look that could rival that the old Pharaoh Aknunkanon.

"Yeah, you're right Seth. Why did I ever bother to befriend him anyway?" Teana turned her back on him, and together with Jou and Seth, she walked away. Only Atemu was standing by him now. Yuugi looked at him, sinking even further away as he saw the look of hate and disgust on the other's face.

"A-Atemu?" his voice shook and he wanted nothing more than for Atemu to just hold him, comfort him. Neither happened.

"How dare you speak my name, _slave._" Atemu spat hatefully.

"Atemu, no…" Yuugi was panicking even more than he had ever thought possible. Anybody but Atemu. "I love you." he whispered softly.

Atemu just looked even more disgusted and kicked him in his stomach, "Don't ever say that again. You're not worth anything!"

"But…" Yuugi closed his eyes again as tears once more found their way to his face, "I thought you loved me too."

Atemu growled low in his throat, "Me? _Love_ you? How could I love something as useless as you? The only reason I took you with me on this journey, was because I hoped you'd _die_. I thought I'd be proving the people a favor by doing so."

Yuugi opened his eyes in shock as Atemu turned his back on him as well, before walking away without even a glance back.

Yuugi fell into total despair and slowly felt everything around him fade, as the shadows pulled on his soul. Yuugi tried to resist, but he was so scared and broken, that he didn't seem to have the strength to even get away the slightest bit. His soul slipped into the darkness more and more, slowly being pulled into the Shadow Realm. Only one word kept flashing through Yuugi's mind, _'Alone…'_

* * *

Crimson eyes snapped open as Atemu heard the sound of a familiar whimper somewhere close to him, _'Yuugi!'_ He looked around frantically in search of the boy and was gripped by panic as he saw his little one in the clutches of the one person who could hurt him the most; Dakuso. 

"I see you finally decided to wake up." Dakuso grinned like a madman, "Good, I was getting bored with your little slave here. He whines too much if you ask me."

The panic that had been forming in Atemu quickly replaced itself with anger and rage as the High Mage held Yuugi in a rather painful grip, "DAKUSO! LET HIM GO!" he roared, getting ready to lung at the one hurting his angel.

"I wouldn't do that, _Prince_." Dakuso smirked as he held a sphere of raw Shadow Magic close to Yuugi. The teen whimpered and tears came down his face as he looked at Atemu pleadingly.

Atemu's eyes widened in fear as the ball almost touched Yuugi's skin which would mean not only a world of pain for his little one, but also a one way trip to the Shadow Realm, "Please, no."

"How long I've waited to hear you plead." Dakuso laughed in such a way it could only be described as the laugh of an insane man. He mockingly held the black orb closer to the softly sobbing Yuugi and smirked only more evil as the fear in Atemu's eyes grew more and more. "Now then, on your knees and beg."

Atemu gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in anger but did as he was told nonetheless. He'd do anything to get Yuugi back, "Please, I beg you."

"That's a good boy." Dakuso's smirk widened, "But, I'm through playing games now." Atemu had been glaring at the ground angrily but snapped his gaze up with wide eyes as Dakuso spoke. Dakuso let the black sphere in his hands simply roll off his palm and come in contact with the small teen. Yuugi let out a pained cry as Dakuso let him go and he sank to the ground.

Dakuso simply walked away laughing like the maniac he was, leaving a paralyzed Atemu and a shaking Yuugi behind. Atemu forced himself out of the paralysis and ran to his angel's side. He could see that Yuugi's soul was already almost completely consumed by the shadows of the Shadow Realm and there was nothing he could do about it. "Yuugi… No…" he whispered, pulling Yuugi close to him with tear filled eyes.

"You… didn't save… me." Yuugi managed to mumble. His eyes shortly opened and stared at Atemu accusingly, before closing again, never to open again.

Atemu shut his eyes tightly to try and stop the tears from falling from his eyes but to no avail, _'How could I let this happen. How could I let Dakuso do this to him? It's all my fault.'_ More tears fell from his eyes as he held Yuugi's limp form in his arms. No matter how much he prayed and wished for Yuugi to come back, the beautiful amethyst eyes stayed closed.

He didn't know how long he had sat there, but after what seemed like forever, he was snapped out of his misery spell by someone calling his name. Atemu opened his eyes and stared in shock at a ghostly see-through version of Yuugi standing in front of him.

Before Atemu could even open his mouth to speak or get up to run over to his little angel, Yuugi spoke first, "Why didn't you protect me?" The tiny bit of happiness that had been in Atemu's heart at seeing his little one again, disappeared completely and the misery took over with full force once more.

"No, Yuugi I…" Atemu cut himself off because he didn't know what to say, "I'm sorry." he whispered at last.

"Sorry? You let Dakuso do this to me and the only thing you can think of is: 'I'm sorry'?" Yuugi slowly started to fade away, his voice becoming more hollow as he went.

"NO!" Atemu bolted towards the fading form of Yuugi, completely forgetting about the body he had been holding so dearly. He tried to grab the ghostly form but only went through and fell on the ground. He turned to see Yuugi staring at him with sad eyes, "It's all your fault." Yuugi said before he completely faded away.

Atemu just lay there, staring into nothingness while drowning himself in guilt, misery and self-loathing.

He could feel the pull of the shadows but couldn't care less about it. His mind slipped into despair and depression more and more, giving the shadows more emotions to feed on and Atemu less to defend himself with.

* * *

Teana yelped in pain as she was hit painfully in her stomach. She opened her eyes and stared into the emotionless – unless you count insanity as an emotion – eyes of her Master Dakuso. 

"M-master." Teana stuttered. The look in her master's eyes held disappointment, disgust, rage and disapproval.

Teana shivered involuntarily under the degrading gaze she was receiving and looked at the floor.

"How dare you show your face here! You failed me! Atemu has the god tablets and he could be here any minute!"

Teana looked up with fear filled eyes. She had failed her master? No, it couldn't be. The temple… Atemu hadn't gotten to the tablets yet!

She tried to speak but before sound could leave her lips, a sharp kick in her chest made her fall back and whimper in pain.

"Don't even try to contradict me, _slave_!" Dakuso yells with loathing in his voice, "Thanks to you Atemu has a chance of winning against me!"

At that moment the doors to the room they were in burst open and Atemu stormed into the chamber. Teana looked up in shock to see the ex-Prince and cowered under the harsh glare thrown by him to both her and her master.

"Dakuso! You're finished!" Atemu yelled before bright flashed blinded her and 3 deafening roars accented the air around her. She was blown back by an enormous force blasting her out of the way and she heard her master cry out in pain.

When she could open her eyes again she was Atemu smirking over the limp body of her master. The three god beasts had already disappeared again to their tablets, waiting for their new master to summon them again.

Atemu's gaze shifted to her and his smirk was replaced by the same look Dakuso had given her before, "Get out! You're not even worth punishing! Get out and never come back again!"

Tears streamed down her cheeks and she quickly ran out of the palace. She kept running, far into the desert until she had no more strength or will to go any further. She collapsed on the golden sands.

'_He's dead… and it's because I failed him…'_ More tears streamed over her face as the words her master had said to her before flashed through her mind.

"_How dare you show your face here! You failed me! Atemu has the god tablets and he could be here any minute!"_

She shut her eyes tightly and tried to block the memories plaguing her thoughts out.

"_You failed me!"_

Nothing seemed to work as the words just kept coming to her. Then the memory of her master's dead body flashed in her mind. She had failed him… he was dead and it was all her fault… how could she have failed him.

She couldn't even feel her body anymore as she felt her soul slowly being torn apart at the memories that kept repeating themselves over and over again in her mind.

The pull of the shadows grew stronger with each passing second as Teana's soul - like those of her friends – was slowly consumed by the hungry souls in the Shadow realm.

* * *

Honey brown snapped open as someone slapped Jou harshly across his face. Glaring up at whoever had just hit him, Jou blinked in surprise at seeing cold icy blue eyes glaring back at him. Jou's glare faded and he stared in confusion at the person standing over him, "Seth? What's…?" he was silenced by another harsh slap. 

"Be quiet, Mutt!" Seth hissed, "You don't have the right to speak to me unless given permission."

Jou looked at the other with hurt-filled eyes before noticing the royal attire Seth was wearing. Seth was High Priest again? But how? Had they gotten to the god tablets? Jou was utterly confused and tried to speak once again, only to get the same treatment as before.

"What did I just tell you! You cannot speak to me unless I say otherwise! You're just a worthless peasant, not worth anything!"

Tears slowly appeared in Jou's eyes at the harsh words thrown at him. How could Seth say that! This wasn't what Seth was like! He refused to believe it!

Though his mind was screaming at him that Seth wasn't like this, memories of Seth slapping him after the sandstorm flooded his mind. No matter how hard he tried to push the memory back, it kept coming back with full force.

He looked back up at Seth with pleading, yes, desperately looking for his Seth in those cold blue eyes, but only emotionless unmoved blue orbs set in a glare was what met him.

"Get out, Mutt, and never show your worthless face here again!" Seth roared, pointing at the door behind Jou.

Jou – not able to take Seth's words or looks any longer – turned around and left the room he had been in. He only now noticed that he was in the royal palace, which meant that Seth had indeed reclaimed his position as High Priest back.

It also meant that this must be how Seth really was. The only reason he had probably ever been nice to him, was because Atemu liked Yuugi so much and he therefore had to hang around with him and his friends. Since Yuugi and Atemu where now together, there was no need to pretend to be his friend anymore.

Jou ran out of the palace and through the garden, then into the desert. He stopped when he was far enough away fro the palace, and sank to his knees, fighting back the tears that threatened to spill from his eyes.

"NO! This can't be what Seth is like!" he rammed his fists into the sands under him in both anger and sorrow. Since the time Seth had slapped him, there had always been a part of him wondering who the real Seth was; the one that had warmed him up that one night, or the one that had hit him.

He fell down on the sands, knowing that no matter how hard he tried to deny it, Seth's actions of a few minutes ago spoke otherwise.

The tears he had tried to hold back streamed down his face at last. What did it matter anyway? There was no one to see him anyway… Seth wasn't here…

Rejecting him was one thing, Jou couldn't expect Seth to share the same feelings he had for the other, but to call him worthless and send him away… well that was just a whole other thing. Seth's words had hit him harder than he had ever thought possible and he didn't care about anything anymore; not even what would happen to him. It didn't matter anymore if Seth wouldn't even be around him.

'_What did I just tell you! You cannot speak to me unless I say otherwise! You're just a worthless peasant, not worth anything!'_

"Seth…" Jou whispered softly before giving into his depression completely.

* * *

Icy blue eyes opened as the owner let out a groan. He had the headache from hell and it wasn't going anywhere. 

Seth focussed on his surroundings but didn't recognize any of them. He guessed he was just in some random person's house… well at least until he was his pup staring at him with wide eyes of shock. O-kay… so he was probably in Jou's house. But how did he get there? Wasn't he supposed to be at the temple? Or was this his so-called test?

'_Ghe, some test this is. Jou staring at me is hardly my worst nightmare.'_ he frowned; why was Jou looking at him anyway?

As if someone had frozen time and it was defrosting now, Jou closed his slightly opened mouth before swallowing and speaking, "Y-you… love me?"

Now, it was Seth's turn to freeze completely. How did his pup know that, "Wh-what!"

Jou shifted uncomfortably on his spot, slightly backing away. Seth noticed the movement and a lump formed in his throat. He had come to accept his feelings for the blonde, but had kept them to himself out of fear that his pup would reject him. He'd rather just stay friends like this than to lose the other completely over something like this.

However, now it seemed that Jou didn't only know how he felt, but he was about to turn him down as well.

"Seth? I uhm…" Jou swallowed again before closing his eyes, "I don't love you…"

Seth swallowed thickly. He'd already seen that coming. Sadly enough for him, Jou wasn't done speaking yet.

"… and I want you to stay away from me."

The last part of what Jou said hit Seth than he had ever thought possible. He looked at Jou with wide eyes to see the blonde opened his own honey brown eyes pleading Seth to leave. Seth was numb all over and didn't even know what he was doing anymore, as if he had no more control over his actions. The next thing he knew he was running out of the house and away from the city, back to the palace.

He stormed into his room without even taking notice to the people staring at him, or that the palace was still supposed to be in Dakuso's hands. He only cared about never being able to see his pup ever again. He collapsed on his bed, glaring at the wall with all his might, it was better than crying. On the inside though, his heart was being ripped apart piece by piece and his soul was torn.

His glare slowly disappeared and was replaced by a sad look, as his anger faded into depression.

'_I'll never see him again… never…'_

Seth tried to shake the thoughts from his mind but to no avail as the depression ate away at him, pulling him in deeper and deeper.

He could subtly feel Shadow Magic around him, pulling at him harder and harder as time passed, but he didn't care, he didn't even try to stop the strong pull.

Slowly his soul drifted away, growing less aware of his surroundings with each passing second.

**

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Okay, I hereby crown Seth to be drama-queen of the year people. Damn, and I wrote that… oh well, you'll have to forgive me for that. Anyway, another chap and I LOVED writing all the torture °smirks° although I have a feeling you people don't like the fice time cliffhanger in here...  
Well cya all next week and R&R people!**


	12. Chapter 11: Face It

**Hello people, here I am again with the latest chap. There's just one liiiiiiiiiiiiiiittle problem with the next one. It's on my other computer (which is basically prehistoric) and I haven't gotten my laptop back since it needed to be repaired. It's still not back and I doubt it'll be back somewhere during this week . So the problem is that I might not be able to update the next chap next week. I really hate to say it but I might have to skip my once a week update thing untill I have my laptop back. Well pray for me that my laptop will be back by next week and of course, enjoy this chap! R&R people!

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**

--: 11 :--  
Face It

Teana was pulled out of her misery when she felt a strong presence near her. Not really caring and actually hoping that whoever it was would kill her, she looked up with lifeless eyes to be met by angered brown, almost black eyes.

"You worthless slave! You can't even face a simple test without needing my help! If you weren't the key to killing Atemu and getting those god tablets, I would let those damned shadows have you!"

Teana slowly came back to reality at recognizing the man's voice and seeing the familiar appearance, "Ma-master?" she choked out, not believing what she was seeing as the memory of Atemu killing her Master was still fresh in her mind.

"Yes it's me! Can you really not tell the difference between a damned illusion and the real me!" Dakuso rambled on, pacing back and forth in front of the female brunette, glaring at everything in sight.

Teana's eyes came back into focus and the misery that had taken her over completely vanished. She could suddenly feel the presence of Shadow Magic all around her and the lost souls in the Shadow Realm trying to pull her closer. Her eyes widened in shock as she realized how close she had been to becoming one of those souls.

"Are you even listening to me!" a kick in her side brought her back to reality and she winced at the sharp pain.

"I-I'm s-sorry Master." Teana got to her feet – ignoring the pain in her side as best she could – and bowed in respect for he master.

"That's better. Now listen to me this time for I won't repeat myself again. Everything around you is an illusion to test if you are worthy of the god tablets. I used my power to project myself in here because you were failing miserably obviously. I'll use my power to get you out of here and hopefully that spoiled brat and his damned friends will make the test on their own because you obviously need their help." Dakuso muttered darkly under his breath while at the same time, gathering the magic from his items in the real world.

Dakuso's body suddenly gained a blue flaming aura and Teana could feel his power increase with each passing moment.

His aura grew and engulfed its surroundings bit by bit. Teana closed her eyes as the aura engulfed her and she felt her soul being torn away from the hold the shadows held on her. Soon she was completely free and she felt her soul slipping back into her body.

She groaned and opened her eyes tiredly, trying to focus on her surroundings.

After blinking a few times and shaking her head, she recognized the large chamber with torches lit by Shadow Magic, and saw the forms of the other four next to her, still unconscious. She quietly looked around and noted that some of the writing on the tablet was seemingly burning with flaming Shadow Magic. She frowned at the strange phenomenon, wondering what it meant and more importantly, if it was good, or bad.

* * *

Jou lay on the sands unconscious, the images of Seth still flashing through his head, the words repeating themselves over and over again in his mind. 

The shadows had already gotten a firm grip on his soul and were pulling the blonde deeper and deeper into their realm.

Jou's soul was subconsciously still struggling against the strong pull, clawing through Jou's memory to try and find something that could prove Jou's current depressive thoughts wrong. But the magic of the shadows was keeping all those pappy thought far out of reach.

The memory of Seth slapping him right after the sandstorm once more played itself in Jou's mind, the shadows making him feel the stinging pain on his cheek this time to gain even more power over his soul.

The shadows however, hadn't expected that Jou's struggling soul would cling to the memory, letting it play out further.

Feeling the mental torment Jou had gone through as he and Seth had walked in silence, the lost souls let the memory continue, and felt Jou come closer and closer to completely slipping into the Shadow Realm.

Although Jou was slipping further away at the memory now, his soul kept playing the memory, knowing what would come if the shadows would let it play out long enough.

_:Flashback:_

_They kept walking in silence, both pondering what they were supposed to do. Finding the silence too unbearable, Seth let out a sigh, slowed his pace until he was next to Jou, and swallowed his pride, "Jou?"_

_Jou looked up with a start, not expecting Seth to be right next to him, "Yeah?" he said. It sounded a bit too angry for his taste and he regretted the tone immediately when he looked into the other's icy blue eyes. They looked as emotionless as ever at first glance, but Jou saw past this and could see how much Seth was fighting with himself._

"_I'm-" Seth swallowed; apologizing wasn't exactly something he did a lot. The only people he had ever apologized to were Atemu, his father, and the Pharaoh – though the latter had been only so his head wouldn't be chopped off, not because he was truly sorry for what he had done, "I'm sorry… for slapping you." he muttered softly, almost inaudible. He looked at the ground, not wanting to meet Jou's eyes._

_Jou blinked in shock at what Seth had said but smiled. He hadn't really expected Seth to apologize – let alone this soon, "It's okay." he replied, smiling slightly. The other looked up and their eyes met again – longer this time – before Seth gave a small smile. Jou's heart skipped a beat at seeing the sincere smile – no matter how small – on Seth's face. He was glad his thoughts of Seth being cold-hearted and non-caring had been proven wrong - though the slightest bit of doubt remained in his mind, locked far away._

_:End Flashback:_

The hold the shadows had weakened as Jou's soul now kept repeating Seth's apology over and over again, showing that Seth _did_ care. Why would Seth have apologized if he hadn't meant it? Seth wasn't the type of person to apologize and not mean it; he had too much pride for something like that.

_I'm sorry… for slapping you_

Jou's heart once again jolted as he saw the sincere smile on Seth's face in his mind's eye. The grip of the shadows loosened considerably and Jou could actually feel the sand beneath him again. Slowly the rest of his senses came back to him and he opened his eyes to be met with a sight that scared him out of his wits.

He could see nothing but darkness all around him with what he assumed were the forms of souls surrounding him.

The sand beneath him had changed into hard solid ground and depression reigned everywhere.

"What da…?" Jou jumped away, trying to keep the souls away from him, and in doing so, freed himself completely from their grasp on him. A bright golden flash consumed everything and the next thing he knew, he felt his soul being placed back into his body. He opened his eyes and looked around confused.

"Jou?" he looked up to see Teana crouching near him, casting worried eyes over him.

"Teana? What's goin' on?"

"The test," Teana pointed to the tablet on the wall, "you made it."

Jou stared at the tablet and noticed the text was seemingly burning partially. The memories of his test came back to him. _'So I was seeing what my greatest fear was.'_ Ignoring the fact that he close to a rock that was burning in Shadow magic, he glanced at the others to see them still unconscious with pained expressions on their faces.

Ignoring the presence of Teana completely, Jou crawled over to Seth and lay down next to him, letting his head rest on the other's chest. _'Come on Seth, don't you dare fail!'_

* * *

Seth lay on the bed, staring into completely nothingness. His senses had dimmed down to a minimum and the only thing keeping him from completely disappearing into the Shadow Realm was his experience with this dark force. 

His soul had stopped its struggling some time ago, and if Seth would've bothered to sense around him, he would've felt the shadows almost completely enveloping him.

He suddenly felt another presence close to him. The presence felt warm, familiar and comforting. It felt like…

'_Jou…?'_

The thought of his pup being close to him again, brought Seth out of his depression slightly just, enough to get some coherent thoughts back into his mind.

'_My pup's near? He does want to see me?'_

Jou's words came back to him; the words with which he had send Seth away… forever.

_and I want you to stay away from me._

Seth flinched at the memory and his depression took him over again, though the presence stayed with him.

Seth first told himself that he was just imagining Jou's presence near him, that it was only wishful thinking. But as time passed, the presence didn't go away, and Seth started to doubt his previous thoughts.

_I want you to stay away from me_

Though Jou's words kept repeating themselves, Jou's presence seemed to tug on Seth's soul, trying to help it resist the strong pull of the shadows. Seth forced himself to concentrate on the presence of who he thought was Jou, instead of on the words repeating themselves over and over again in his head.

'_Maybe… maybe he does want to see me… Maybe he was just shocked... Maybe he just needed time…'_

Sure, those were a lot of maybes, but it was the only thing keeping Seth from completely giving up right now. So he clung to the feeling of Jou being close to him. The presence seemed to be getting stronger as his soul fought his way free from the grasp the depression held on him.

His eyes slowly came back into focus and looked around the room for seemingly the first time. His eyes widened as he realized he wasn't alone in the room, but surrounded by the lost souls of the Shadow Realm, ready to claim his soul and make him one of them.

He remembered the stone tablet in the temple and what had been written on it. It had said something about your worst fear and facing it as a test.

Seth's eyes narrowed and he glared at the souls of the Shadow Realm, not caring that they had almost devoured him completely.

His own Shadow Power flared out, freeing him completely from the Shadows binding him to the obvious illusion world and a bright flash was emitted from seemingly nowhere.

Seth closed his eyes calmly. _Nothing_ could be worse than what he had just gone through so he didn't care where he was brought. He felt his soul being torn away from the illusion and the Shadows, and slowly placed back into his body.

As his soul settled back into his body, he felt something lying on his chest. It was shaking slightly and his robes felt slightly wet.

He opened his eyes and glanced down to have his eyes widen as he saw the person who had just made his greatest fear come true, softly sobbing into his robes.

His first reaction was to panic, push Jou away from him and sneer at the blonde to never come near him again. This had always been his type of reaction to anybody who came to close or disobeyed him and it was something he did without thinking these days.

Luckily for Seth, his brain kicked in as he opened his mouth and stopped him from making another big mistake.

"Mu-Pup?" he mumbled, still a bit dazed from having his soul go though his worst fear.

The sobbing didn't stop but Jou turned tear- and fearful eyes upwards. His eyes immediately lit up with happiness as he saw Seth conscious and looking at him.

"Seth?" Jou asked as if not believing his own eyes before feeling arms wrap around him and seeing a smirk come back onto Seth's face.

"The one and only, pup." Seth glanced to his side to see Teana sitting against the wall, determinedly looking away from the two boys cuddling on the ground. His eyes also fell on the stone tablet and he frowned at seeing the text… burning? Well partially anyway.

Jou nuzzling into his chest some more made him look down at his pup in his arms and he pushed the strange stone out of his thoughts. Right now, his pup was much more important to him than some stupid stone that was defying the laws of physics.

* * *

Dulled, glazed over lifeless crimson eyes stared up to the sky impassively. Sometimes, a flash of life would shoot through the orbs, showing that an inner fight was being fought. But as quickly as it would come, it would disappear again. 

On the inside, Atemu was telling himself over and over that he couldn't have stopped Dakuso, that it wasn't his fault. But the shadows just kept showing him Yuugi's disappointed transparent form, letting him hear the sad words Yuugi had spoken.

There was a little voice in the back of his head begging to be heard, but Atemu didn't even seem to notice it, let alone understand what it was saying.

Another flash of life shot through Atemu's eyes, this time at the same time as the voice's words, and Atemu finally noted what the voice was saying.

Yuugi might be in the Shadow Realm now, but if Dakuso was beaten, Yuugi's soul would be released again. Atemu immediately thought of the temple, the tablet, the test, and hope filled him. If he beat the test, and got through the possible other traps, he could get the god tablets and beat Dakuso. Then he'd get Yuugi back.

The flashes of life came more and more often. The grip of the shadows loosened, though they refused to give up just yet.

Atemu's determination came back to him and his eyes fully came back into focus. He pushed himself off the ground and noticed for the first time that he wasn't alone.

He stared at all the lost souls around him, the souls that tried to grab him and obviously claim his soul. His stare turned into a fierce and defiant glare. The Puzzle around his neck shone brightly, making all souls let go of him in fear of the light and power.

Atemu smirked as the last tendrils of the shadows let him go, but was surprised as he felt his soul being torn away from the unfamiliar place he was at, and being placed back into his own body.

As soon as his soul was completely back in his body, he shot up with wide eyes and scanned his surroundings with confusion. He was back at the chamber with the large tablet that had started this all. Teana was sitting against the wall a little away, not looking in his direction, and Seth and Jou were lying on the ground in each other's arms. As Atemu looked to his other side, he saw Yuugi lying on the ground, curled up in a small ball and whimpering slightly.

"Welcome back, cous." Atemu hardly noted Seth's voice, and crawled over to Yuugi. He cradled he younger one in his arms, before finally looking up and seeing 3 pair of eyes on him, "What happened?"

"The test. It made us face our greatest fears and we had to overcome them in order to get out of that illusion world created by the shadows of the Shadow Realm." Seth explained, "The tablet over there seems to be burning in Shadow Magic more and more as each of us pass the test."

Atemu looked at the tablet to see it almost completely shimmering in flames of Shadow Magic, seemingly coming from inside the tablet itself.

"So Yuugi's the last of us to pass?" seeing the nod from his cousin and Jou, Atemu pulled Yuugi even closer to him, praying to every god he knew that Yuugi would make it safe and sound.

* * *

Yuugi couldn't feel, hear or see anything except from the painful memories anymore. He was being completely consumed by his loneliness. His soul, although weak, was still resisting with all its might, but Yuugi was inexperienced with this magic and therefore, his soul wasn't fairing too well with it. 

Yuugi tried to think of something, _anything_ that could prove the world he was now in wrong. That he wasn't alone, that his friends hadn't left him there… that _Atemu_ hadn't left him there. Sadly, no thoughts came to mind, which only discouraged him even more.

Atemu's image entered his mind and he once again saw the disgust in the other's eyes, heard the loathing in his voice,

_The only reason I took you with me on this journey was because I hoped you'd die._

Yuugi whimpered at the harsh words said, but for some reason they sounded untruthful, as if his mind was already trying to tell him what he had been searching for the entire time; something to prove this memory wrong.

He tried desperately to clutch to this feeling, trying to find out what the answer was at the same time. He came up with the memory of Sovok kidnapping him, and Atemu bursting into the room just in time to save him.

Atemu had been beyond enraged back then. Why would he bother to save a 'worthless' slave, if he didn't care? Yuugi's mind managed to free itself a bit and more suppressed memories came back to him. He remembered what Atemu had done when they were back in their home town and the guards had suddenly burst into the Dueling Ground. Atemu had stayed to protect him, had saved him.

Their first kiss then flooded back to him. Why would Atemu kiss him if he didn't care? Yuugi's mind was working rapidly now and he slowly opened his eyes, that had been shut tightly the entire time.

'_No… Atemu wouldn't leave me alone. He'd protect me.. This can't be real!'_

He stirred, trying to stand up straight on still shaky legs so he could find his friends. Something was wrong with them. They'd never say the things to him that they had. They wouldn't leave him alone!

He saw dark shapes through hazed vision and reflexively took back a few stops to get away from whatever was in front of him. He something akin to a cold wind against his back and as he turned around, he saw another one of the dark shapes standing there. His eyes widened as he realized that the dark shapes were all around him, trying to grab him.

"NO! I have to find my friends!" Yuugi screamed out, tears filling his eyes once more. In a fit he pulled loose of all the things holding him and felt the world around him go black again. The next thing he knew, he opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling of the weird chamber they had been in earlier. Feeling warm arms around him, he looked up to see Atemu's relieved crimson eyes staring at him.

"A-Atemu? Y-you're here!" Yuugi flung his arms around Atemu's neck, sobbing and shaking uncontrollably into the other's chest. Atemu just hugged Yuugi close to him, whispering comforting words into his ear while explaining what had been going on.

Their attention – as well as that of the other people in the room – was drawn as dark blue flames emanated from the tablet, completely consuming the rock in Shadow Magic. Everybody stared in shock at the phenomenon. As the flames died away, a passage was revealed behind it. The passage wasn't all that long as light could already by seen at the end.

"I guess we found our next passage." Seth muttered, still in slight shock at seeing a rock burning away in Shadow Magic.

They got up – most reluctantly – and cautiously walked through the passage. The chamber they entered had a large gap in the middle of the floor stretching from one side to the other so you couldn't get around it. The only way to get past the gap was a narrow bridge going over it. Under the bridge however, were deadly spikes, coated with Shadow Magic.

On the other side of the large gap, surrounded by torches lit in shimmering flames of Shadow Magic, were three tablets with – to Atemu and Seth – familiar drawings on them.

In front of their eyes were the tablets of The Winged Dragon of Ra, Slifer the Sky Dragon and Obelisk the Tormentor, the three most powerful Shadow creatures to have ever existed.

"The God Tablets…" Atemu whispered in awe. He could practically see the power beaming off the stone tablets and see the Shadow Magic radiating off it.

"I can't believe we actually found them." Seth said, just as awed as his cousin was. Jou and Yuugi were staring at the tablets wide eyed; even they could feel the immense power coming off the 3 stones. Teana, on the other hand, was smirking widely. Her eyes were lightly glazed over, as if she was having a mental conversation with someone. Her smirk widened even more as her eyes came back into focus, _'It's time.'_

_

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_**Okay, I normally love giving you people a cliffhanger, but since you might have to wait longer than a week, I'M SORRY! I REALLY AM! I hope you people won't be to mad... Ugh, well hope to cya'll next week. R&R!**


	13. Chapter 12: Arise Slifer, Ra and Obelisk

**Guess what people! I got a replacement laptop for a while and that means, FULL ACCESS TO INTERNET! For you this of course means that I can update as planned and I believe I left you at a rather annoying point in the last chap (A). Ghehe, well here's the next chap! Enjoy and R&R!

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**--: 12 :--  
Arise, Slifer, Ra and Obelisk**

"I can't believe we actually made it here alive." Jou said as the group stepped further into the room. Seth's face grimaced at seeing what was at the bottom of the large gap.

"That could still change if we fall in there." he added to his pup's words.

Atemu nodded in agreement; he really didn't feel like coming into contact with those deadly spikes, "Well let's go."

Everybody – except for one - stepped closer to the narrow bridge. Atemu – noticing that one of them hadn't moved - glanced back to see Teana standing there with a smirk on her face; a smirk that reminded him an awful lot of Dakuso's.

"Teana?" Yuugi asked. He too had noticed that his childhood friend hadn't moved and was looking at them in a weird way.

"It's time." was all Teana said, her smirk widening.

Atemu's danger alarm went haywire. Teana's aura was suddenly filled with Shadow Magic. He could sense Dakuso's influence practically beaming off her now, and he mentally slapped himself for not noticing this before. He glanced at Seth to see if his cousin had drawn the same conclusions as he had.

Seth was glaring at the female brunette. He could also feel Dakuso's presence with their female companion, and had a pretty good idea about what had happened to her. He also knew, that if his suspicions were correct, and Teana's mind had indeed been altered by the Millennium Key, Dakuso could use her to create a shadow portal. A portal that would lead him to any slave he wanted to go to. A portal that could lead him straight to them.

He glanced to Atemu and icy blue met molten crimson. They nodded simultaneously before looking back at Teana.

"So how long have you been spying for Dakuso?" Atemu asked in a deadly calm tone that didn't seem to match the raging anger in his eyes.

Yuugi and Jou's eyes widened, and they looked in shock at their female friend. Had she betrayed them? No… that just couldn't be!

"Since we left Sovok." Teana said, just as calm as Atemu had sounded. No emotions were showing in her usually bright blue eyes as she stood there, arms crossed over her chest.

Seth and Atemu both mentally slapped their foreheads. They had both been suspicious of Teana, but had merely pushed it aside. They made a mental note to _never_ ignore a feeling like that again, _ever_.

Teana's eyes glazed over shortly before coming back into focus. She smirked evilly at her old friends. Her master had given her a small portion of Shadow Magic – as well as knowledge on how to use it – and had told her to get rid of the others. She let a blue shadow aura flare ou around her, loving the shocked and surprised look on her old friends' faces. She quickly made a ball of Shadow Magic, and fired it at Yuugi and Jou, as they were standing closest to the edge of the gap.

Jou managed to drop to the gournd just before the ball would've hit him, but Yuugi wasn't as lucky. He was hit in the side of his chest and thrown back, right into the gap.

"Yuugi! NO!" Atemu's shocked expression turned into an enraged one. Even the amount of anger he had felt towards Sovok didn't come close to this. Yuugi was gone; if not killed by the fall, then surely send to the Shadow Realm. Atemu didn't care that Teana was being controlled and couldn't do anything against the strong magic. He didn't care that she was actually a friend. He only saw flashes of his test combined with the image of Yuugi being thrown backwards into the gap by the Shadow ball Teana had created. That was the only thing he cared about at that moment.

His aura flared out wildly, sparks of black electricity showing his extreme anger. Next to him, he felt another aura flare out, although less angered than his own. Seth was obviously also ready to kill the girl who had killed their younger companion.

"You…" Atemu hissed, too angry to actually finish the sentence he had started. He created a Shadowball of his own - one much stronger than Teana's had been – and threw it at the brunette. Teana barely managed to dodge it, but was then hit by another Shadowball fired by Seth, and thrown against the wall behind her.

She could feel blood flowing from a wound on the back of her head, but ignored it as she had more important things to deal with. She quickly managed to fire a Shadowball at the two cousins – through it was easily dodged by both of them – and got up. She would _not_ disappoint her Master; she would _not_ let Atemu kill her Master like he had done in the illusion world of her test.

She seemed to gain power for no apparent reason – as she knew her Master wouldn't give her anymore than he had already given her – but just pushed the thought aside and used the shadows in the room to grab Atemu and Seth, and hold them so they couldn't move.

Seth – had it not been for his control of his emotions for the greater part – would've yelped as the shadows in the room wrapped around his body, making it near impossible to move. He glanced at his cousin to see shadows also attacking the tri-colour haired boy, but not being able to penetrate the thick protecting aura. He could see the glare in Atemu's eyes only growing, and actually for a bit sorry for the brunette on the receiving end of this glare.

"These shadows won't hold me back!" Atemu hissed, his aura only flaring out more to prove his point, and a powerful Shadowball already forming in his hand.

Without any emotion but anger in his eyes, the former Prince threw the ball at Teana, hitting her square in the chest and throwing her back against the wall again.

Jou was scared out of his mind in the mean time. Not only was his buddy probably dead and was the glare Atemu had on his face enough to want you to die on the spot, but Seth was seemingly being trapped by nothing but shadows and there was freaking nothing he could do about it.

"Se-Seth? A-are you o-okay?" Jou stuttered to the blue-eyed ex-High Priest. His fear filled honey brown eyes met – though seemingly calm – angered icy blue ones.

"Been better." Seth muttered. He looked back at his cousin as the other threw a Shadowball to the female brunette, and hit her dead on. He felt the grip of the shadows loosen, and he quickly let his aura flare out again, freeing himself completely.

Seth quickly used the shadows still trying to grab him, to grab Teana and hold her down against the ground where she had fallen. Glancing at Atemu, he quickly grabbed the other, so his cousin wouldn't kill the brunette on the spot.

"Let Me Go." Atemu growled, emphasising every word very clearly, "If she lives, Dakuso could track us! And SHE KILLED YUUGI!"

"You're not thinking straight! You can't kill her! She's only under control of the Millennium Key!" Seth hissed back, keeping the shadows firmly in place as Teana tried to resist the strong hold.

Atemu's eyes blazed with untamed fury as he glared at the one who had killed his angel, his little one, his Yuugi, "If it weren't for Seth, you'd have been dead." he hissed and Teana visibly flinched at his tone.

Teana tried once more to free herself from the shadows keeping her down, but her own Shadow Magic had been exhausted and she didn't have any more power. There was only one thing to do… she had to ask for help from her Master.

Teana's eyes glazed over but Atemu, Seth and Jou didn't seem to notice. Atemu and Seth were still hissing at each other, and Jou was still on the ground, just staring at the two cousins with a crestfallen look on his face.

It wasn't until a Shadow Portal appeared on the wall behind Teana, did the small group notice that something was amiss. They all turned to the portal to see a male person emerging from it. Their eyes widened as everybody recognized the man, and what he was carrying with him.

Dakuso had all six of the Millennium Item on him, and a cruel look set on his face. He glanced at Teana – who was still lying on the ground, bound in shadows – and with a mere flick of his arm, freed her.

Teana stood up and bowed for her Master with a grateful look on her face. She was surprised and shocked however, when Dakuso lifted her up by the collar of her robes and pulled her up to his eyelevel, since Dakuso was taller than Teana.

"You failed me." the man hissed. Teana whimpered in his grip but did nothing to get away. Dakuso glared at her with loathing, and with another flick of his arm, threw her to the ground near the edge of the gap. Before anyone could do or say anything, Dakuso had fired a powerful Shadowball, which send Teana flying backwards, screaming in pain. She flew over the edge of the with spikes filled pit, and a soft 'thump' could be heard not even a second later as Teana's screams died down.

Atemu, Seth, and Jou had been too shocked at seeing Dakuso to react in time. They watched as Teana was thrown into the gap, and instantly died. Atemu immediately felt a pang of guilt shooting through his heart. Seth had been right; Teana had only been brainwashed and couldn't help herself. He pushed the thoughts away for now, as he had to deal with a bigger problem right now.

Dakuso smirked like the madman he was at the thinning group, "Two down, three more to go. And since I lost my slave in your group, I'll just have to replace her." He grasped the Millennium Rod at his side and a bright flash blinded everybody momentarily. When the flash died down, Atemu quickly glanced at his friends.

Seth seemed to be fine; his icy blue eyes were still showing life and emotion. But Jou's expression had changed completely; his eyes were completely void of life.

"There, slave! Attack your precious High Priest now!" Dakuso laughed as Jou's form got up and turned to Seth, trying to hit the blue-eyed brunette. Seth could barely dodge the hit and sprang back.

'_Fuck, I can't kill him! I… I… I CAN'T!'_ Seth glanced desperately at Atemu but it seemed his cousin had his hands full already.

Dakuso had summoned his Cosmo Queen, and Atemu was trying his best to dodge the attacks of the said monster, while trying to focus enough to summon a monster himself. Needless to say, this wasn't going all to well for him.

Atemu knew that even if he managed to summon his Dark Magician, his faithful monster wouldn't hold up against Dakuso's Queen for too long. The only way to beat the High Mage turned Pharaoh, was to get to the God Tablets and summon the three egyptian gods.

What he hadn't expected, was Seth's Blue-Eyes White Dragon suddenly attacking Dakuso's Queen. Atemu glanced aside to see Seth dodging blows from Jou. This obviously cost him less energy than Atemu's dodging had cost him, and Atemu was very grateful for the blue-eyed dragon's help. He quickly summoned his own Dark Magician to help his cousin's monster, and ran for the narrow bridge in the middle of the room.

Dakuso's eyes twitched as he saw the Blue-Eyes and the Dark Magician fighting his monster. With another flick of his arm, a new monster appeared to help his Queen. A Black Meteor Dragon appeared next to him and quickly started to help his fellow monster.

Dakuso looked around to see Atemu making his way across the narrow bridge leading to the three God Tablets, obviously trying to obtain the said tablets before Dakuso could get to them, or kill their monsters.

Dakuso smirked cruelly as he formed a Shadowball in his hand, and threw it at the former Prince, only barely missing the said teen.

Atemu lost his balance for a second as the Shadowball fired by Dakuso flew passed him. He cursed under his breath as he knew he couldn't do anything in the position he was in right now. Dakuso kept throwing Shadowballs, missing the Prince on purpose so to mock the crimson-eyed teen.

In the mean time, Seth was having a hard time keeping his monster under control, and dodging all of Jou's blows. The blonde was obviously a very good fighter, and Seth knew he couldn't keep avoiding all the blows for too long. Eventually, one of Jou's fists hit Seth in the arm, and Seth was thrown off balance slightly. This, however, was exactly what Jou had needed to start hitting Seth constantly. Seth blocked most of the punches now, but was thrown to the ground by a good aimed one he hadn't seen coming.

He glared up at Jou, who was actually smirking down at him right now. Seth knew he had to do something fast, or he'd be thrown into the gap with lethal spikes as well.

Acting on impulse, he grabbed Jou's leg and pulled on it, making Jou fall to the ground as well. Even in his hypnotized state the blonde looked surprised and shocked. Seth quickly pinned his pup to the ground, making sure that the other's hands couldn't move. Jou struggled against the firm hold, but Seth was practically lying on top of him, so it was no use. Seth just had one little problem: he couldn't let go of Jou, but he had to go help Atemu. The only way to do both was if he could get through to Jou, and snap him out of his trance. Of course, Seth had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to do this.

Desperately racking his mind for an answer, he did the first thing that came to mind. He leaned down completely on Jou's body so the blonde really couldn't move an inch anymore, and kissed his pup full on the lips.

Jou eyes at first widened as he – even in a hypnotized state – recognised what was going on. The real Jou immediately fought harder to get control over his body again, and with all the force he could gather, broke the spell of the Millennium Rod.

Seth pulled back just as Jou's eyes came back to life – though there was a very dazed look the blonde's face. He was actually surprised to see what his kiss had done, as he had acted only on impulse and hadn't even thought about what it would matter.

"Seth…" Jou looked up the brunette questioningly. Seth had… kissed him? But… why? The blue-eyed ex-High Priest couldn't share the same feelings as Jou had for the other… could he?

The moment was ruined as they heard a scream coming from further up in the room. They both looked at the bridge, to see Atemu losing his balance as a Shadowball lightly grazed his side.

Atemu managed to grab the edge of the bridge just in time and desperately clung to it for his dear life. If Dakuso would hit him one more time, he was sure he'd lose his grip and fall down. Atemu closed his eyes, silently praying to Ra for a miracle to save him. When no Shadowballs were thrown at him after a moment, he opened his eyes to see Seth and Jou trying to fight Dakuso. They weren't fairing all toO well, and Atemu knew he had to hurry.

He pulled himself up to the bridge with all his might, and managed to climb back on top. His muscles were aching like there was no tomorrow, and his side wasn't any better. Atemu pushed the pain away, focussing on crossing the bridge he was currently on so he could get those blasted God Tablets.

A large beam of energy nearly hit him and Atemu looked up to see the four monsters fighting directly above him. He stepped back as another blast almost hit him, and almost threw him off the bridge again. He then clenched his fists and walked forward again, trying to avoid the blast as good as possible as the Blue-eyes and his Dark Magician tried to get Dakuso's monsters away from their Master.

As soon as Atemu set foot on the other side of the room, he fell to his knees, thanking whatever god was up there protecting him. He looked up to see the God Tablets glowing slightly in response to the Puzzle around his neck. Atemu just hoped that he would have enough energy to control the three legendary beasts. He closed his eyes, focused all his Shadow Magic, and used it all to summon the three beasts before him. He heard Dakuso's panicked cry somewhere behind him as the man saw what had happened.

When Atemu opened his eyes again, he stared above him at the forms of Slifer the Sky Dragon, the Winged Dragon of Ra, and Obelisk the Tormentor. He immediately felt drained of most of his energy and fell to the ground. He groaned as he felt even more energy being taken from him, though he immediately decided that these three beasts could have all the energy from him as they wanted; Slifer, with a large ball of electricity, shot the Cosmo Queen out of the sky and nearly killed it. Dakuso's pained cry could be heard as the Cosmo Queen was obviously his Ka. Ra fired a flaming spiral attack at the Black Meteor Dragon, and the said monster shattered into thousands of pieces.

"NO! I won't let this happen!" Dakuso yelled and an aura, unmatched in size by any seen before, blazed around his body. His Cosmo Queen immediately got up and fired an attack at the three gods. Obelisk was the one to take the hit, and he was thrown back slightly, but was still standing up straight. It was obvious that Dakuso was putting all the power of the Millennium Items in his Queen, if the attack of a normal monster could do such a thing to a God Monster.

Ra let out an angry roar and was consumed by flames, before it attacked the Cosmo Queen and slammed it into the ground. Slifer then fired another ball of electricity and slammed the Queen into the wall behind her master.

Atemu watched in awe as he slipped into unconsciousness more and more. The three gods were extremely strong, but it cost him a lot of energy to keep them fuelled with this strength.

His gaze flickered to the other side of the room where the Cosmo Queen had crashed, but stopped before it actually landed on Dakuso's monster. His eyes widened as he saw what was hanging on the side of the wall, right above a few Shadow Magic coated spikes. Panic rose in his body and he cried out to the person hanging just above a painful death.

"Yuugi!"

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Hmm… and again I manage to put down a cliffhanger. I really do wonder how I do it all the time since I was really had at cliffies first. Oh well, that was the chap for this week but don't worry, since I have a laptop again, I can surely update next Saterday/Sunday.  
Btw, I have a request for one of my annonmous reviews, S2Teennovelist. You've beens sending me really long and praising reviews and I'm really happy when I get them, but you never leave you e-mail, so I can't respond to it. Can you please leave your e-mail?  
Well that's about it people, cya all next week and R&R!**


	14. Chapter 13: Fight

**Hey people! I've got good news for you all. A) this isn't the last chap. B) there's no cliffie at the end! Yes, I know. I'm too good for this world but you don't have to worship me. Simply reviewing me and telling me you all loved the chap and that I'm the greatest will do. So R&R people!

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**--: 13 :--  
Fight**

Atemu eyes widened as he saw his little one struggling to keep a firm hold on the crack in the wall. He could see blood trickling down the wall and Yuugi's hands, meaning that the obvious sharp edge had cut into Yuugi's skin.

Atemu tried to stand up, desperate to get to his little one, to save him, but the three god monsters had taken too much energy. He had already had to call his Dark Magician back, because it was draining him too much. He knew that if it hadn't been for the Millennium Puzzle around his neck, he would've surely died by now because of energy loss.

Ra, Slifer and the Blue Eyes White Dragon were shooting attacks from the air at Dakuso's Cosmo Queen, as Obelisk tried to punch the said monster with his fiery fist.

Atemu's eyes shot back to the Blue Eyes White Dragon, '_Seth, he_'_s still on the other side!_ ' He glanced to the other side of the room and saw Dakuso with a large blazing aura following the fight and giving his Queen more power when needed.

Against the wall behind the High Mage turned Pharaoh, were Jou and Seth. Jou seemed to be unconscious, a small trail of blood sipping from a wound on his head. Seth was holding Jou close to him, while glaring fiercely at Dakuso. Atemu guessed that when Dakuso had powered up, Jou had been thrown against the wall and knocked unconscious.

"Seth!" Atemu tried to call out, but it was nothing more than a mere whisper.

Atemu tried to get up again, but Slifer, Ra and Obelisk had simply taken too much energy from him. He tried to take the energy he needed to at least call out to his cousin from his Puzzle, but there was barely anything left in it.

Taking the last bits of Shadow Magic from the mystic item hanging from his neck, he managed to stand up shakily, "Seth!"

This time, Seth looked up from Jou and glanced Atemu's way. He could see his cousin standing on shading legs, a lot more pale than he usually was, and obviously very drained from controlling the God Monsters fighting the Cosmo Queen. He gave his cousin a questioning look to only see the other point towards them… no, lower. Lower? Was he pointing at the wall of the pit?

Before he could be sure, Atemu sank to the ground exhausted. He could see Atemu's eyes only half open, but still staring at that one spot on their side of the room… the spot he had been pointing at.

Seth glanced towards Dakuso but the other hadn't noticed a single thing as he was too busy looking after his Queen. Seth reluctantly let go of Jou, and placed him against the wall. He then slowly stood up, and walked to the edge of the gap, carefully watching Dakuso as he did so.

As he reached the edge, he looked down to have his heart skip a beat and his breath hitch in his throat for a moment.

He could clearly see Yuugi hanging right below him, gripping the edge of a sharp crack in the wall. The other was almost losing his grip, and was only hanging from the tips of his fingers as his feet almost touched a sharp spike right below them.

He quickly glanced at Dakuso again to see that the ex-High Mage hadn't noticed him yet, before quickly lying down on his stomach, and reaching out towards the smaller teen, "Yuugi!" he hissed.

Yuugi glanced up at hearing someone call out to him, to see Seth above him with a hand reaching for him. Knowing the Shadow Magic around him was somehow blocking all sound - as he had called out many times to his friends but had gotten no response - he tried to grab Seth's hand without a word. Since now only one hand was holding his weight up, the sharp edge of the crack dug deeper into his skin. He winced at the painful feeling, but kept reaching out to Seth, knowing this was the only way he wouldn't die a painful death.

He could already feel Seth's fingertips, but couldn't get a good grip on them, and no matter what he tried, he couldn't get any higher.

Seth mentally cursed with every word he knew as he just couldn't get a good grip on Yuugi's hand. At suddenly feeling someone crouch beside him and hearing that person gasp at what he saw, he looked up startled, but relaxed at recognizing Jou.

"How…?" Jou stared with wide eyes at Yuugi but snapped out of it at seeing the sharp spike right below his little buddy, "Can ya reach him?"

Seth shook his head, "No, I can just reach his fingertips, but I can't get a good grip on his hand." He glanced to the wound on Jou's head, "Are you…?"

"I'm fine," Jou cut Seth off before the other could even finish his question "it's Yuugi who needs help right now. I'll hold onta your legs so you can reach deeper." Without even waiting for an answer, he grabbed Seth's legs and slightly pushed the other forward.

Seth glared slightly at Jou for not even letting him finish his line, before all but _ordering_ him to do something. Ignoring it for now, he reached to Yuugi again and this time, grabbed the other's hand firmly.

Yuugi felt Seth grab his hand firmly at long last, and let go of the wall to grab Seth's arm with his other hand as well. Blood was still seeping from both gushes, but he ignored the pain as much as he could. Seth pulled him up with surprising ease, but as Yuugi reached the edge and was put down on solid ground again, he saw that not only Seth, but also Jou had been pulling him up.

Jou hugged the amethyst-eyed boy tightly, almost squishing the other in the tight embrace, "Yuug, I thought ya were dead!"

Yuugi smiled slightly, "Me too…" he muttered, but decided not to speak his words too loud. He freed himself from Jou's arms to look at the other side of the room. He had only shortly glanced there as his focus had been on holding on to the wall, but now he wanted to know what had happened to Atemu after the other had summoned the three God Monsters. Yuugi gasped as he saw Atemu only lying on the ground with half opened eyes that didn't even seem to be taking in anything.

"Atemu!" Yuugi cried out as he rushed forward, only to be stopped by two arms pulling him back.

"You can't just run over ta him! Da madman is still standin' dere!" Jou hissed, but Dakuso had already heard Yuugi's cry, and had turned around. The man was smirking madly at the small group with an evil glint in his eyes.

"Well if it isn't the brat's little lover. I thought you were dead. I guess that no-good slave of mine couldn't even kill one of you." Dakuso grinned, "No matter, now I'll just have the pleasure of killing all of you myself!" He lifted the Millennium Rod and aimed the Eye of Horus at the group of friends, ready to send them to the Shadow Realm.

Seth pulled Jou in his arms in a protective manner, not even realizing it himself until Jou was already sealed tightly in his strong arms.

Jou's eyes at first widened slightly as he felt himself being pulled into Seth's arms, but then simply leaned into the othe's chest, feeling the protective aura around Seth's body envelop him as well. He glanced back at Dakuso and then at Yuugi, who was still standing in front of them. His little buddy had a fierce and defiant look in his eyes, showing not the slightest bit of fear in those amethyst orbs.

Yuugi glared at the man in front of him. At this moment, he didn't care that the man was the most powerful Mage alive, he didn't care that the man had the power to control their minds, and he definitely didn't care about the fact that this man had the power to send them all to the Shadow Realm. The only thing he cared about was the fact that this man was the one who had hurt Atemu, that this was the man who had controlled and killed his childhood friend, and that this man was standing between him, and the bridge to Atemu.

In a burst of pure rage, he bolted forward, surprising the ex-High Mage, and making them both crash to the ground. The Millennium Rod fell from the man's hands, and slide over the ground. Dakuso let out a startled cry, before glaring and letting the aura around him flare out. He threw Yuugi off him, and made a grab for the Rod as he stood up, only to find Seth smirking at him with the Rod in his hands.

"Looking for this?" Dakuso glared at the blue-eyed teen in front of him. _'Nobody does this to me! I'm the Pharaoh!'_ He created a Shadowball in his hand but before he could throw it, he was tackled by Yuugi again. He growled as he fell to the ground, _'I've had it! They're all going down!'_ He once again let his aura flare out, throwing all three teens backwards, before creating a huge and dense Shadowball with enough power to kill all three of the teens in front of him, "Say goodbye!"

Yuugi froze as fear finally took over his body. He stared wide-eyed at the madman in front of him, and bit his bottom lip softly. He glanced past Dakuso and the lethal ball of Shadow Magic in his hands towards Atemu, thinking this would probably be the last time he'd ever see the other.

Atemu's sight had turned to nothing but blurs of colours some time ago, his ears not really picking up any coherent sounds, but for some reason he could feel that Yuugi needed him.

He tried to focus his vision, trying to get rid of the blurry images he was seeing now. With a lot of difficulty he managed to focus enough to see what was going on in the room. First the still fighting monsters came into view. The Cosmo Queen was still fighting, though her power seemed to have diminished. Ra, Slifer and Obelisk had scrapes from the Queen's attacks on them, but seemed to be fine otherwise. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon was in a lot worse state. Blood trickled down form the wounds on her body, and she was panting heavily.

Atemu let his gaze wander to the other side of the room where he knew his friends would still be. His heart stopped for a second as he saw the sight that met his eyes. Dakuso was aiming a very powerful Shadowball at his friends, who were all lying on the ground, looking fearfully at the madman in front of them. Yuugi's gaze seemed to go passed Dakuso, looking at him instead of the threat in front of him. Amethyst met crimson for a moment, before Yuugi shut his eyes tightly, but that moment was all Atemu had needed. He'd seen the extreme fear in Yuugi's eyes, and knew the eyes of his friends held the same look.

'_No… I can't let them die… They only came to help me, they've done nothing to deserve death.'_ Briefly images of his test of fear shot through his head again, the way Yuugi had died at Dakuso's hand. _'It's happening again, only for real this time… I couldn't save him last time… but…'_ He heard Dakuso's laugh of insanity and victory as the man was about to throw the dense ball of Shadow Magic, and kill Yuugi, Jou and Seth.

'_No. I can't let it happen again! I won't let it happen again! No!'_

"NO!" Atemu cried out. He would not let his friends die because of his battle. This was between him, and Dakuso. With strength he didn't know he possessed, he got to his feet, an aura of Shadow Magic already flaring around him. He had no idea where this power had come from, but he was grateful beyond words.

Dakuso looked behind him as he heard someone cry out. He saw Atemu getting up on shaking legs, a flaming aura slowly appearing around his body, and growing fast. Before he could do anything, a ball of Shadow Magic had already appeared in Atemu's hand, and was coming straight for him. The ball hit him dead on, throwing him backwards, and beyond the group of friends. His head hit the wall painfully, and he could feel blood trickling from the wound.

At this moment, Ra, Slifer, Obelisk, and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon all fired an attack at the Cosmo Queen, sending her flying into the wall behind her. Dakuso cried out again as he felt his monster almost being defeated; something that would kill him as the Queen was obviously his Ka. He knew that now that he was weakened, and missing another Millennium Item - since Seth still had the Rod in his hand, which in turn strengthened his Blue-Eyes White Dragon - it wouldn't be wise to keep fighting.

The Cosmo Queen disappeared from her spot in the wall, and slowly a Shadow Portal appeared next to Dakuso, "You haven't won yet, brat! Egypt is still mine!" With that, Dakuso stumbled into the portal.

Jou tried to get up and run through the portal as well, but before he could go through it had already sealed up again.

"You coward!" Jou yelled at the wall in front of him, not really paying attention to the fact that he was actually yelling at a _wall_.

"Let it go, Pup." Seth muttered, "he's gone. We'll get him next time." He called his Blue-Eyes White Dragon back, and fell back on the ground exhausted.

Jou muttered darkly under his breath as he walked back, "I hate dat guy."

Seth smirked, "Don't we all." He watched as Yuugi got up from the floor and quickly - yet carefully - crossed the bridge to get to Atemu, who had called back the God Monsters, and had collapsed on the ground again, panting heavily. "Come on, we better get over there as well."

Atemu felt a bit of his energy returning to him as he let the God Monsters disappear. He glanced behind him at the God Tablets, only to have his eyes widen as the tablets shimmered in Shadow Magic for a moment, before disappearing from their places. He felt a strange tingling sensation running through his entire body, but before he could really think about what had happened to the tablets and twhat that strange feeling was, he felt slim arms wrap around his neck, and someone crashing into him, making them both fall. He looked up into the overjoyed, though somewhat concerned face of his Little One.

Atemu wrapped his arms around Yuugi's frame, holding the other close to him. His body felt exhausted and almost completely drained of energy, even if he had gotten some back. He tried his best to keep his eyes open, to stay conscious, but his body wouldn't allow it. Slowly he closed his eyes, and let sleep take him over.

* * *

Crimson eyes slowly opened as Atemu finally woke up. He looked around confused at not recognizing his surroundings, but quickly remembered what had happened before. 

He looked around him once more, and noticed that he was still lying in the room where they had found the God Tablets, and that his friends where all lying close to him, fast asleep.

Yuugi was using his chest as a pillow, and was sleeping with a content smile on his face. Seth and Jou were lying in a similar position as he and Yuugi, only with Jou using Seth as a pillow.

The soft smile playing on Atemu's lips at the sight before him, slowly faded as his eyes darkened, a look of sadness now ruling his features.

'_Teana…'_

He let out a sigh and glanced into the pit of spikes, only half hoping to find their blue-eyed companion. He scanned the spike covered floor carefully, until his eyes landed on the remains of Teana's mangled body. He quickly diverted his eyes, not being able to look at the dead, lifeless body; it was simply too horrifying to look at.

'_Dakuso, you'll pay for killing everybody just because you feel like it, or because they've become a nuisance or useless to you.'_ He closed his eyes, imagining what his father might've looked like when Dakuso had killed him, _'You'll even pay for killing my father.'_

He opened his eyes again, the image of his father's dead body still in his mind's eye, and for the first time since Dakuso had told him his father was dead, his heart wrenched at the thought of never being able to see the other again. Aknunkanon might've been a tyrant, a terrible father, and the man might've done something very bad - although Atemu still couldn't remember what - but he had still been his father, and no matter how hard Atemu tried to deny it, he did love his father to a certain extent.

Atemu was pulled from his thoughts as he felt a slight tug on his robes. He looked down to see Yuugi's sleep-clouded eyes looking up at him. Atemu smiled lovingly and pulled his Little One closer, mentally smirking at the small blush on Yuugi's cheeks, "I'm fine, Little One," he whispered reassuringly, "are you?" He looked at Yuugi's hands, remembering the blood that had trickled down the wall, with concerned crimson orbs.

Yuugi just smiled at him and nodded, also glancing down at his hands, "Yeah, just fine. My hands still hurt a bit, and the side of my chest is probably going to be bruised for a while, but nothing too serious."

Atemu gave Yuugi a relieved smile, before kissing the other softly. He pulled back as he heard a groan next to him. Glancing aside, he saw Seth rising slightly, before looking down at Jou slightly annoyed because he couldn't rise completely. The annoyed look on his face quickly faded however, as he saw the adorable sight of Jou snuggling into his chest, smiling contently. Seth couldn't help but smile.

"Very cute, cous." Seth's smile faded in record time and he glared at his cousin.

"Oh shut up Atemu." he muttered, subconsciously pulling Jou closer – something that woke our blonde pup up.

Jou opened his eyes groggily, half glaring at everything around him for waking him up - he'd been having quite a nice dream involving our blue-eyed ex-High Priest. "Can't you people be quiet?" he asked annoyed, his glare turning harsher as he saw Atemu's mocking and smirking face. He smirked himself as he saw Yuugi give Atemu a glare – if it could even be called that – and Atemu pouted slightly.

"Well you did have to wake up, you know." Seth said, smirking at the pout he was receiving from Jou now.

"And here I was, thinkin' you were on my side." Jou said, rising and releasing himself from Seth's arms.

Atemu just smirked at the blonde again, before remembering something, "Hey Jou? How did you get out of Dakuso's spell?"

As soon as the seemingly innocent question had left Atemu's mouth, both Jou and Seth turned red - though Jou a lot more than Seth.

"Well… uhm… Seth uhm… You see…" Jou stuttered nervously. He didn't really know what to say. Seth had _kissed_ him to get him out of that trance, but he still didn't know _why_…

"Well?" Atemu asked, raising an eyebrow. What was so hard about telling something like this? Unless… He mentally smirked and looked at his cousin, "Did you get him out of it, Seth?" Seeing the nod, Atemu's mental smirk widened, "How?'"

Seth could feel his face heating up even more, and forced himself to calm down. Ra, Atemu would never let him live this down, _'Eternal mocking here I come.'_

"I… kissed him."

Seth glanced at Jou to see the other going even more red, and glancing at him questioningly as if to ask: 'Why did you kiss me?'.

Seth turned away, too stubborn to answer the non-spoken question and refusing to talk about it in front of Atemu, "We should get out of here and start heading back to the palace; we still need to win back your title, Atemu." he said before his cousin could start making any other remarks about it. Seth glanzed at the spot where the God tablets had been before, and his eyes widened in shock, "Where did the God tablets go!"

Atemu frowned for a second, thinking back to that weird feeling he had had as the God tablets disappeared. It had felt like the time he had first summoned his Dark Magician. He suddenly smiled understandinly at the rest of the group that were looking at him expectantly, "I think they became a part of me somehow."

Seth frowned, "What do you mean?"

"Don't you remember what the rest of the story about the God Monsters said? It said that the monsters would never leave your side, and would always be with you. I think they meant that the God tablets would disappear, and that the monsters would simply become a part of you so you could always summon them whenever needed." Atemu explained, seeing realization dawning on Seth's face as he told the story.

"That would be a logical explanation…" Seth said thoughtfully.

Atemu nodded and glanced at the Golden Rod in Seth's robes, before looked back at Seth's face questioningly, "How did you get the Rod?" he asked while getting up.

"Dakuso dropped it when Yuugi tackled him." Seth replied, "I just grabbed it before Dakuso could get his hands on it again." he got up as well and Yuugi and Jou followed his and Atemu's lead. Atemu nodded, smiling at Yuugi in a proud way, before they all crossed the bridge.

As they reached the other side, both Jou and Yuugi looked back into the gap sadly, obviously thinking of Teana. They'd never see her again…

Atemu wrapped his arms around Yuugi frame, and hugged the other tightly, "Don't worry, we'll get back at him for killing her, I promise."

Yuugi nodded and smiled sadly, before letting himself be pulled towards the exit of the room. They left the room together, leaving Jou and Seth still standing there silently. Atemu of course hoped that the two would get together if he gave them some time alone, and Yuugi just didn't seem to notice.

Seth let out a sigh as he walked towards Jou, hesitantly wrapping his arms around the blonde and surprised as his pup leaned into the touch. He stood there for a moment, not really knowing what to say, before deciding that since his impulses hadn't really done any harm - as he'd liked kissing Jou - to just go with whatever came to mind.

"Atemu's right you know, we'll get him for killing her." _'And for even daring to try and control you.'_

Jou glanced his way, "I know… I'm just gonna miss her." he said, leaning his head on Seth's shoulder and nervously toying with the sash around his waist. He wanted to ask Seth about the kiss, but he had no idea if he even wanted the answer. Maybe Seth had just known that Jou was in love with him and that this would break the trance. Maybe Seth hadn't really meant the kiss… Maybe Seth would think he wasn't worthy like in his test…

Going nuts with all the doubts and the want to know the answer, he took a deep breath and looked up at Seth again, "Seth?"

"What is it?"

Well so far he didn't sound mad… or annoyed… or revolted. Jou took another deep breath, "Why did you kiss me?"

Seth froze. He'd been so caught up in holding Jou and comforting him, that he had _not_ seen this question coming… and he hadn't though of an answer yet.

At first he though of just lying and saying he didn't know, or that that was the normal way of getting someone out of a trance, or SOMETHING along those lines, just anything but the truth. But as he glanced down and opened his mouth to speak, he looked into Jou's eyes. They were filled with anxiety, hope, depression and… love? No it had to be his mind playing tricks on him. Or…

Before he actually knew what he was saying, the words had already left his mouth, "Because I love you." and he wanted nothing more than to just die right there, right at that moment. His prays however, were not heard and he could do nothing but stand there, waiting for Jou's reaction.

He could see confusion, more hope, disbelief, and still the imaginary bit of love showing in those honey-brown orbs. What he didn't see was disgust, disapproval, and rejection. Maybe his mind wasn't playing tricks on him…?

Jou felt like cleaning his ears for he surely hadn't heard right.. had he? No, that couldn't be. Seth… loved him? How? When? Why?

"You… love me?" Jou asked with wide eyes, still not believing he had actually just heard those words leave Seth's lips. He watched as Seth looked down, not daring to meet his eyes, before nodding. Jou felt like actually jumping into the air of joy, yelling at the world that Seth _did_ love him. His face cleared of all traces of fear and doubt, and he hugged Seth, obviously surprising the other.

As Seth felt Jou hug him, he looked up shocked to meet the smiling and overjoyed face of his brown-eyed blonde pup. He stared into the other's eyes for a second, before finally processing that Jou _wasn't _rejecting him. He leaned closer to Jou and kissed him, more passionate than the time when Jou had been under Dakuso's control, and felt Jou return the kiss with just as much love.

From the shadows of the corridor, both Yuugi and Atemu had to hold back an 'awwww' as they saw Seth and Jou finally kiss. Atemu decided that he wouldn't ruin the moment - for once - and tugged on Yuugi's robes to follow him. They left the new couple, hoping they wouldn't go too far and that they'd follow soon, preferable within the next 10 minutes.

**

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WOOOOOOOOW! Jou and Seth finally got together! And it only took them… what? 11 chapters? Ain't they fast! Well no but that's not the point. Anyway, this was my longest chapter yet, and I'm very proud of myself for it! Well people, R&R!**


	15. Chapter 14: Practice Makes Perfect

**Hello people, this is actually a very pointless chapter but needed anyway, so yeah. Anyway, I missed a lot of my permanent reviewers last chap, where'd all you people go? Already on vacation or something? Tss, I'm SOOOOOO much more improtant than some stupid vacation. And no, I did not steal Kaiba's ego.**

**Okay, herea message to S2Teennovelist, since your hotmail is simply being an ass and obviously not getting my review responses through to you.  
Okay, so in short what I said in the reply, I said I very much love your reviews and that I always look forward to them, although I really don't get how you can make them so friggin' long. I swear that you must hold some kind of review reconrd somewhere, there's just no other way. Not that I mind, but yeah. Anyway, I think your stupid hotmail just puts all my replies in the unwanted box or whatever it's called with you, so if you want the longer replies, you should check there more often.**

**Okay, so before i bore you all to eithre death, or until you all fall asleep, I'll just start the chapter so R&R people!

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**

--: 14 :--  
Practise Makes Perfect

"You wanna do what!"

Seth let out a sigh and looked at his cousin. This plan would never work.

"I want to teach you and Yuugi how to control your Ka so you can help us." Atemu said calmly as if it was the most normal thing in the entire world.

"But when ya summoned Yuugi's Ka, he collapsed!" Jou said stubbornly. He didn't feel like collapsing like Yuugi had the last time..

Atemu rolled his eyes, "Well if you practice, that won't happen."

"It took us years to learn how to summon our Ka like we can now, how where you planning on teaching them in only a couple of days?" Seth countered, annoyance clearly heard in his voice.

"They won't have to learn how to summon their Ka. Both of us have a Millennium Item now, so we can do that for them. They only have to learn to control the monster they summon so they don't fall unconscious like Yuugi did the last time!" Atemu argued. Both Atemu and Seth glared at each other, and started another one of their famous to argue. Jou and Yuugi watched as the two cousins fought, knowing that Atemu would probably get his way in the end.

"Any idea when Seth's going to give up?"

"Right about… now."

At the 'now', Seth yelled in frustration, "Fine! We'll try and teach them, but don't blame me if this goes wrong."

"You're good." Yuugi remarked, smirking at his best friend.

Jou just grinned and looked back at the now death-glaring Seth, and widely smirking Atemu.

"Good, and since we're just sitting here in this oasis doing nothing, let's start." Atemu said cheerfully.

Seth muttered some cures under his breath as he got up and walked over to Jou. Jou managed to pick up something along the line of 'baka', 'if I'd get my hands on him', and 'dying', and had to hold back a snicker; like Seth would ever really kill Atemu.

Seth grabbed Jou's hand, glaring at his cousin for all he was worth for on last time, before letting out a sigh and concentrating on summoning Jou's Ka. He felt Jou shift uncomfortably for a second, obviously not wanting to do this, and gave the other a helpless look. No matter how hard he denied it, Atemu and he did need help and if Jou's Ka was powerful enough, it could give them that help.

Seth grabbed the Millennium Rod with his other hand, and focused on the power within it, while focusing on Jou as well. The item shone, emitting a bright flash for a second, before dimming down again.

As Seth, Atemu, Yuugi and Jou opened their eyes, as they had closed them to protect them from the bright flash; they heard a loud roar above their heads, and all looked up.

A majestic black dragon with ruby red eyes flew directly above their heads, its onix-black wings flapping to keep it up. The dragon roared once again and looked down at the small group with blazing eyes. The dragon had the same air of power around him as the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and its form demanded just as much respect. Even Seth had to admit that Jou's Ka was quite impressive.

Seth glanced at his Pup, checking if the blonde was still okay, and saw the blonde's vision going in and out of focus. His legs were shaking a bit, but he managed to keep himself standing. Seth supposed that the sunstroke Yuugi had had not long before summoning that fuzz ball Ka of his, hadn't been completely gone, or Yuugi hadn't recovered from it completely at that point.

He smiled at the blonde, and wrapped his arms around him, supporting the other and just wanting to have his pup in his arms.

"Impressive." Atemu said as he watched the black dragon fly above them, before glancing over at Seth and Jou to see Seth hugging Jou gently. He had to hold back another 'awww', and a smirk appeared on his face; who would've ever though that Seth would go soft?

"Try and control the amount of energy you're giving… what's its name?" Atemu asked, looking back at the majestic dragon once more.

"Red-Red-Eyes B-Black Dragon." Jou said, "It's one of m-my favorite c-cards. It's a-also in m-my deck."

Atemu nodded, "Try and control the amount of energy you give it." he repeated.

Jou tried to do as Atemu had told him, and felt Seth guide him a bit with the Millennium Rod to help him. It took him a few minutes before he caught on to how it worked, but then tried to control the energy stream without Seth's help. Before he could completely master it though, too much energy had already been taken and he slumped against Seth.

Seth immediately stopped the flow of Shadow Magic as he felt Jou slump against him, and the Red-Eyes Black Dragon disappeared from the blue sky above them. He glanced at Atemu to see a content smile on the other's face, and an approving nod; he'd seen what he needed to see.

Seth looked back at Jou to see the other still conscious, though very tired. He sank down to the ground and sat down, pulling Jou in his lap so he could rest. He then looked back at his cousin to see him standing next to Yuugi, obviously planning on summoning the fuzz ball Ka again. "Ready, Aibou?"

Ever since Atemu had heard that Yuugi had tackled Dakuso and tried to defeat him, Atemu had started to call Yuugi, 'Aibou'. Seth had to admit that it was cute when Yuugi blushed slightly every time he was addressed as Atemu's partner. It was a great honor coming from someone like Atemu, as Atemu practically called Yuugi his equal like this. Seth smirked; and Yuugi had started out as nothing more than a simple commoner when this had all began.

Yuugi, like always, blushed slightly at the new nickname Atemu had given him, and nodded slightly. It would probably be better this time, as he hadn't just recovered from a sunstroke, or felt like he had just run the lungs out of his body just to escape from a giant worm that wanted to eat him.

He felt Atemu take his hands, and saw the Millennium Puzzle start to glow, before giving off a bright flash. Yuugi felt his energy be taken away again, as his Ka materialized before him, seemingly hanging in midair.

"Kuree?" The Kuriboh looked around curiously before spotting his master and cooing happily, "Kuree!" The fuzz ball jumped at his master, nuzzling itself into Yuugi chest and making sure to not explode at contact like he would do normally.

Yuugi smiled at his Kuriboh, happy that he had been right and that he hadn't lost as much energy as the last time. He slowly raised his hand and patted the Kuriboh, who in turn coed happily at him.

"Now try to do as Jou did, and control the amount of energy you give it." Atemu said, smiling at the sight of the Kuriboh bouncing around Yuugi enthusiastically. He saw Yuugi do as he was told, and like Seth, helped with some of the Shadow Magic in the Puzzle to show Yuugi how it was done.

Like Jou, Yuugi's energy was drained after some time, and Atemu could feel Yuugi almost getting to the point where he'd probably fall to the ground out of lack of energy. He quickly stopped the flow of Shadow Magic, and the Kuriboh disappeared with one last happy, 'Kuree!'.

Seth and Atemu exchanged looks, "They'll learn quite fast." Atemu said with a smile on his face, "If we walk by day and practice when we stop for night, they will have mastered it by the time we get back to the palace."

Seth nodded, "Especially since it's going to take more time getting back than to here; Dakuso will send out men to kill us."

Atemu smirked, "Good, then Yuugi and Jou can practice on them."

* * *

"How predictable." 

"Indeed, just like we said."

Seth and Atemu smirked at each other as they observed a group of guards from their hiding place behind some rocks. It was night and the group of guards had set up camp near the cave Atemu, Seth, Yuugi and Jou were sleeping in for the night. It had been four days since they had left the temple, and they hadn't encountered any sort of trouble so far. The group of guards where the first signs that Dakuso had indeed sends out people to kill them. Every member of the group of guards was wearing a razor sharp sword, and Atemu had no doubt that these were elites, and could therefor summon their own Ka. The only question was, how powerful were their Ka's?

"So you want to wait until tomorrow or just attack them now?" Seth asked, glancing back at the cave some way back.

"Well it's almost morning. I say we go back and wait until Yuugi and Jou wake up, and then let them deal with the guards." Atemu said shrugging.

"You really meant it when you said you wanted to use the guards as practice runs huh?" Seth shook his head, "Leave it up to you to turn a bunch of killers into targets."

Atemu simply smiled innocently at his cousin, before turning around and heading back to the cave, careful not to be spotted by the guards. Yuugi and Jou had been learning very fast how to control their Ka, and Atemu was sure the two could handle the guards as long as Seth and he did the summoning.

It had surprised both him and Seth how easy Yuugi and Jou had learned to master their energy, and at how much time they had put into it. For the past four nights, the two had trained until they almost fainted of energy loss - sometimes going on until they had actually fainted - just to master the technique as fast as possible. Although it wasn't all that hard to learn, Atemu was still very impressed with how fast Yuugi and Jou had caught on, not to mention that they could both keep their Ka in this world with ease now.

Atemu and Seth reached the cave after only a couple of minutes, and sat down next to Jou and Yuugi to wait until they'd wake up. They both knew that because Jou and Yuugi had practiced quite a lot before going to sleep, that it would probably be a few more hours before they'd actually awake.

After Ra had already come up for the new day and had dimly lit the cave the group was staying in, Yuugi opened his eyes slowly and glanced outside. He noticed Atemu and Seth sitting next to him and Jou, both wearing smirks that predicted nothing but chaos, or maybe chaos that they had already caused, "What did you do?"

Atemu looked down at him, mock hurt showing in his eyes, "Why is it that everybody always assumes that we did something!"

"Because when you smirk like that you either have done, or are going to do something that is bound to cause chaos." Yuugi said pointedly, smiling at the pout he received.

"One for Yuugi, zero for Atemu." Atemu looked over to Jou to see the other smirking up at him, sleep still clouding his eyes slightly.

"Well I'm happy you two find this so amusing, but nor Seth, nor I have done anything, or are going to do anything." Atemu said, the smirk returning to his face, "You're the ones who are going to cause the chaos."

Yuugi and Jou glanced at each other, gulped, and looked back at Atemu, "And what are we going to do exactly?" Yuugi asked, not sure if he even wanted to get the answer.

"Attack a couple of guards not far from here for target practice." Seth answered, loving the shocked looks he got.

"Ya mean dat wasn't a joke?" Jou asked, staring at both cousins wide-eyed.

"I don't joke about stuff like this," Atemu said, "now come on."

Yuugi and Jou stared as Seth and Atemu got up and walked to the exit of the cave. They glanced at each other for a moment, both with a look that stated: 'This-just-cannot-go-well', before sighing and getting up.

The group walked back to the where the camp of the guards was, and hid behind the rocks Atemu and Seth had been hiding behind earlier. Most of the guards were still asleep, though some were already gathering their stuff to leave as soon as possible. Atemu smirked before taking Yuugi's hand, and motioning for Seth to do the same to Jou, "Ready?"

Jou let out a sigh, "Like you're gonna call dis off if we're not." he muttered. Yuugi laughed slightly at Jou's remark, but nodded to Atemu's question.

Two bright flashed came from the Millennium Rod and Puzzle - although they were barely seen as Ra was shinning quite brightly by now - and two monsters materialized above the rockformation the small group was hiding behind.

The Red-Eyes Black Dragon roared loudly, drawing the attention of the guards already awake, and waking all the others, as the Kuriboh just coed happily and bounced around in the air. The guards stared at the two monsters for a second, before quickly gathering their swords and summoning their own Ka. Atemu made a mental note to tell Dakuso how predictable the man actually was.

A sword stalker, Rude Kaiser, and some other monsters materialized in front of the guards, and attacked the two-some that threatened their masters. The Red-Eyes Black Dragon simply flew up and out of reach, as the Kuriboh multiplied into hundreds of fuzz balls. As soon as one of the monsters touched one of the Kuriboh, it simply detonated, damaging the monster that had hit it, and being replaced by a new one.

The Red-Eyes fired a fireball at the monsters below, somehow managing to miss all the Kuriboh, and some of the monsters were thrown back and against their masters. The guards crashed to the ground with painful cries and blood starting to trickle out of wounds.

A Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Forretress suddenly appeared, and attacked the Red-Eyes with full force. The Red-Eyes roared in pain and rage, as Jou yelped, before he glared at the flying blue dragon and gave his Red-Eyes more power. The black dragon let out another roar and fired another fireball at the Winged Dragon, Guardian of the Forretress. The blue dragon crashed to the ground, not able to fly up again as the fireball had completely destroyed his wings.

The Kuriboh in the mean time, were all happily bouncing around and tackling monsters, exploding as they made contact, and doing much damage. The guards present all stared wide-eyes at the small monster with looks that said: 'How-can-something-like-_that,_-beat-our-monsters-that-easily?'

Yuugi smirked behind the rocks, _'That'll teach you to underestimate the small ones.'_

The Red-Eyes received more power from Jou, and quickly fired one last fireball at all the monsters below - again somehow managing to miss all the Kuriboh - and knocked not only them, but all of the guards out as well. Both monsters turned around and headed back to where their masters and friends were, stopping right in front of the rocks.

Atemu, Seth, Yuugi and Jou all came out of their hiding place, and walked over to the monsters. The Kuriboh had all vanished but one, who was cooing happily as always, and the Red-Eyes Black Dragon had landed on the ground, seemingly checking out his own wounds.

"Well done." Atemu commented as he looked over to the guards and their Ka's - or as far as the Ka's were still in this world anyway, most of them had already retreated.

Jou and Yuugi smiled, patting their Ka, and then letting go of Seth and Atemu's hands so the monsters would disappear back to the world they belonged to. Neither of them felt over exhausted; they had held practice matches against each other that had been more intense than this. The guards - although obviously elites - had only been low-level summoners.

"So we passed our test?" Jou mocked, looking at both Seth and Atemu.

Seth smirked, "With flying colours." he said, his smirk widening as Jou's mocking face turned into an honestly happy one; not many could get a compliment out of Seth, so this was high-praise for his standards.

"Well, I do believe you two are ready." Atemu said.

"And not a moment to soon; we'll be reaching the palace tomorrow if we don't run into any more guards or other problems." Seth said.

"Well what're we waitin' for then? Let's go beat that bastard!" Jou said, the picture of Teana falling into the pit of spikes in the temple of the God tablets coming to mind. He started walking in the direction of where he thought the palace would be - actually being right about that as well - muttering some curses under his breath and things he'd do to the High Mage turned Pharaoh. The others just nodded, agreeing fully with the blonde, and followed, Seth a bit quicker so he could walk next to Jou. He wrapped an arm around the blonde's waist to calm the other slightly, and smiled as Jou looked up at him.

"Don't worry, we'll get him." Seth reassured. Jou nodded and smiled back at Seth lightly.

Atemu shook his head at his cousin, _'He really is going soft.'_ He smiled before wrapping an arm around Yuugi, loving the blush it caused. They continued their way to the palace in a comfortable silence, all wanting to get there as soon as they could.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HAVEN'T FOUND THEM YET!" 

"I'm sorry, your majesty."

The quivering soldier didn't dare to look at his enrages Pharaoh, and kept his gaze at the ground; looking at his master would probably get him killed anyway.

"I WANT THOSE FOUR DEAD!" Dakuso yelled furiously. It had been four days, FOUR days, and his soldiers still hadn't found the brat or his friends. It wouldn't be long before they'd actually reach the palace, and he wanted them all weakened so Atemu wouldn't have that much power to give his God Monsters. Either that, or he just wanted them dead, but he doubted his slaves were strong enough to do that.

Dakuso rubbed his temple in frustration, glared at the man in front of him, and then simply waved a hand and send the soldier to the Shadow Realm without the slightest bit of pity.

Other soldiers gasped as their leader sank to the ground, his soulless body hitting the ground with a thud. They looked up at their Pharaoh fearfully, and wished for nothing more than to be somewhere else right now; even the dungeons seemed a better place.

"WHAT ARE YOU ALL STANDING HERE AROUND FOR! GET OUT AND FIND THEM!" The soldiers quickly got out of the throne room, silently thanking Ra for still having their soul intact. They left the palace as soon as they could, and continued their search for the four fugitives.

* * *

**Okay, so that was it for this chap, and to be honest, I have no more chapters in advance written and a bit of a writters block... okay, I have A LOT of writters block, so don't shoot me if the next chap isn't out next Saterday. I'll try my best though like always.**

**Oh, and I posted my very first oneshot! Yes people, I've been on this damned site for over a year and I havne't written a single oneshot. Why? Simply because i couldn't think of anything to write without making it a full story, so yeah. Anyway, it's Joey x Seto so everybody who wants to, go read it.**

**Again, I'll just stop ranting now so I won't have waste your time so you can all REVIEW! Cya next chap people!**


	16. Chapter 15: Truth

**Hey guys! Well I managed to get this typed down although I'm not completely happy with it. If I ever get round to editing thisstory I'll probably change this chapter the most so far but yeah, at least it's an update, ne? Oh, and my editor hasn't checked this over, so I'll replace it later with the edited version. I just wanted to put it up since it's already later than you people normally get it.**

**Okay, another note for S2Teennovelist. Since you still haven't replied(probably meaning your stupid hotmail is still being an ass) we need another way to get those replies to you... any thoughts on that? ;**

**Okay then, let's start the chap then people! R&R!**

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**--: 15 :--  
Truth **

"I can't believe he started a war!"

"Atemu, calm down and-"

"I will not calm down! Even if we do get the kingdom back, we'll have to win a war now!"

Seth glared at his cousin, "We'll worry about that as soon as we actually beat Dakuso. I'm sure that you can reason with the them about this."

Atemu sighted, "I guess. I just can't believe all the things Dakuso has managed to do in the less than two weeks he's been Pharaoh."

Seth nodded in agreement and sat down on a rock near Atemu. The small group was back at the cave where they had hidden right after Dakuso had ceased control of the kingdom, and they planned on attacking the palace tomorrow to get back Egypt from the madman turned Pharaoh. Yuugi and Jou had gone to get some food from wherever they could find it, while Seth and Atemu had gathered some information from the villagers still living in the city wearing their usual cloaks to hide their true identity.

The villagers had told them that Dakuso had started a war with one of the neighbouring countries as soon as he had fully become Pharaoh. Atemu and Seth both figured that this was why Dakuso had barely send anyone to kill them; Dakuso had needed them all soldiers for the war.

After gathering the information, Seth and Atemu had returned to the cave to wait for Yuugi and jou to come back as well so they could all eat and discuss what they had found out.

Atemu and Seth sat in silence for a while, until two voices disrupted their peace. Yuugi and Jou came into the cave, laughing and joking about things of the past. The two fell silent as they saw the somewhat crestfallen looks on Seth and Atemu's faces.

"What's wrong guys?" Jou asked, looking worriedly at both Atemu and Seth.

Atemu let out a sigh, "Dakuso started a war." he muttered, glaring at the ground as if it was Dakuso himself.

Yuugi and Jou's eyes widened, and they nearly dropped the bread and fruit they had stolen out of their arms, "What? How did he do that so quickly?" Yuugi asked.

Seth shrugged, "According to the villagers, Dakuso's first act as Pharaoh was to declare war, and then he started making up crazy laws that only benefited him."

"Great, he once again proves dat he's a madman." Jou growled, now mimicking Atemu and glaring at the ground as well.

Atemu nodded, looking up from the ground and keeping himself in check enough to stop glaring at everything, "It's probably also the reason why we barely had any killers coming after us."

"Probably… So what's da plan?" Jou asked.

"Same as it was. We go to the palace tomorrow. I always managed to sneak out of the palace and back in when my father was still Pharaoh, and he kept a pretty strict watch. I don't think Dakuso can top that if he needs every guard he can get for that war of his.

Both Yuugi and Jou nodded, before sitting down next to Atemu and Seth and leaning against their boyfriends, handing them some of the food they had collected.

After they were done eating, all decided that since they would need all the strength they had the next day, they would go to sleep. It was already quite late anyway.

Yuugi snuggled into Atemu's chest and sighed contently. On the outside he seemed completely happy with how things were right then, but on the inside he was worrying himself sick because he knew that tomorrow could be their last day on Earth. He had full trust in Atemu, and he knew the God Monsters were extremely powerful and that Atemu had been practicing with them, as Jou and he had with their Ka's. Still a little voice in the back of his head told him that it could all go wrong. Dakuso was the most powerful Mage ever after all, who knew what the madman could do.

Yuugi sighed as he looked around him, and saw all the content faces of his friends. he closed his eyes again, determined to go to sleep, and be ready to help his friends the next day. He would _not _let them die. He'd fight as hard as he could, and he'd help in any way possible.

* * *

"I can't believe we got in so easily." 

"I told you he couldn't be worse than my father." Atemu smirked at Jou's disbelieving face.

"But isn't da palace supposed ta be safe?" Jou looked around the room they were now in. Atemu had said it had been his room before Dakuso had taken over, and that the High Mage turned Pharaoh hadn't touched a thing in the room. He curiously glanced around at all the gold statues and the large bed in the room. There was a door going to the bathroom on one side of the room, and one leading to the hallway opposite it. He'd briefly glanced into the bathroom, and had almost had to pick his jaw off the ground at the size of the room. He couldn't believe how large everything here in the palace was.

"I've been living here my entire life and I've had enough practice getting past all those guards. Most are too stupid to notice me anyway." Atemu waved Jou's comment off, before walking over to the door leading to the hallway and listening if he could hear anything on the other side. Now came the tricky part. They had to get to the throne room without being seen so they wouldn't have to waste any energy on guards; they'd need it all for Dakuso.

At hearing nothing on the other side, Atemu carefully opened the door and glanced into the hallway behind it. It seemed to be deserted, though Atemu kept his guard up, "Come on, no one's there right now so here's out chance."

Seth, Jou and Yuugi nodded, before following Atemu out of the room. Seth and Atemu went up front as they knew their way through the palace, as Yuugi and Jou trailed behind them, trying to be as quiet as they could.

As they came to a crossing, Atemu heard voices coming from one of the turns… and of course it was where they had to go to. They couldn't simply wait until the guards had passed, as the guard might take the hallway they were waiting in, so they had to find another way to the throne room, and of course hide from the guards coming their way.

"Come on, before they get here." Seth rushed into another passage as the others followed. Okay, so they needed a new way now. Seth quickly took the shortest route to the throne room, only to hear more guards, "This is impossible, there were never this many guards when your father was still ruling!" Seth growled in frustration as they again took a longer path.

After more of these encounters, it seemed that their luck had finally run out. As Atemu and Seth took a hallway that would finally lead them to Dakuso – or at least so they hoped – they came face to face with three guards that had been silently standing in the hallway. Seven pairs of eyes widened, before the guards opened their mouths and started yelling through the entire palace that they had found Prince Atemu and High Priest Seth, together with two random people who they didn't know. Needless to say, the small group was surrounded by guards in less than a minute. The only one not present yet was Dakuso himself, though Atemu and Seth could feel his presence very closeby.

"So what now?" Jou asked, leaning into the protective embrace Seth was holding him in.

"We fight." Seth said simply. It wasn't like they had a choice anyway. If they didn't fight they'd never get to Dakuso. Wasting a little bit of energy was better than being thrown into he dungeons, never to see the light of day ever again as Dakuso would surely soon come to banish them to the Shadow Realm.

Jou and Yuugi glanced at each other, before nodding mutely and grabbing their boyfriends' hands. As they received confused looks from both Atemu and Seth, they simply pointed at the items, to receive understanding nods in return.

Yuugi and Jou concentrated on their Ka's, and felt the magic from the Millennium Puzzle and Rod guiding them through the process of summoning the two monsters like always. The two boys figured that if anyone was to waste energy on this, they were the best choice as Atemu and Seth were stronger and would be fighting Dakuso more then they would.

Just as one of the guard threw a spear at them, Yuugi's Kuriboh appeared in front of the small group, and quickly multiplied so the spear wouldn't hurt its master or friends. With a deafening roar, Jou's Red-Eyes Black Dragon appeared above them, and glared at every guard present with blazing crimson eyes that promised nothing but pain and suffering.

A few strong blasts and explosions were heard, and it wasn't long before the guards that had been present were all knocked out. Yuugi and Jou high-fived each other, but were interrupted as strong surges of pain shot though them, and they winced at the feeling. They looked up to see a Seiyaryu hovering right in front of them, with new guards standing behind it. The Seiyaryu wasn't the only new monster there though. A Wing Weaver and Judge Man were standing on either side of it, and looked ready to attack the little fuzz ball and majestic dragon at any time their masters pleased.

'_High level summoners!' _Atemu panicked. Yuugi and Jou were very good at controlling their monsters, but he had no idea if they could actually beat the elite of the elite guards of the palace… this could end really bad.

He glanced down at Yuugi to see only a determined look on his Aibou's face. It seemed like his Little One wasn't planning on giving up, and one look at Jou told him the other had the same idea.

The Red-Eyes Black Dragon let out another roar before sending a ball of molten lava at the three monsters in front of him. All monsters jumped out of the way, only to crash into one of the many Kuriboh copies.

The Wing Weaver managed to get up first, and fired an attack that not only destroyed a lot of the Kuriboh, but hit the Red-Eyes dead on, making it crash into the wall behind him.

Next was the Seiyaryu, who also fired an attack, making the Red-Eyes – and Jou for that matter – cry out in pain. Before either monster could fire again, or before the third monster could even get up, the Kuriboh tackled them, exploding at contact and throwing all monsters back.

Yuugi panted as more and more Kuriboh were killed, or destroyed themselves. He was having a hard time keeping his energy flow steady, and the attacks thrown at his Ka by the other monsters were really strong. He could already tell that this was not going to be as easy as it had seemed at first.

"We need to run." Seth said, already gripping Jou tighter to help the other to run. He glanced at his cousin to see a nod, before the other grabbed Yuugi and they started to run. The guard controlling the opposing Ka's tried to stop them, but before they could reach them the small group had already ran into a random room, trying to get away from the elites.

Atemu was just about to let out a sigh of relief when he noticed which room they had entered, and whose voice had just started speaking to them.

"Well if it isn't the brat and his little followers. Never though you'd run into the throne room like this."

'_Dakuso! We ran into the throne room and…'_ before Atemu could even finish that thought, he felt the summoning of a monster, followed by the harsh pain of an attack hitting them all and throwing them to the ground.

In the hall, the Kuriboh dissolved, leaving only one left that fell to the ground in pain, as the Red-Eyes let out a pained roar and landed. Both monster faded away, their masters no longer being able to keep them in this world.

The guards that had been fighting the two monsters quickly entered the throne room as well to help and protect their Pharaoh as much as they could.

As they entered however, they were also hit by a new blast of magic coming from the monster Dakuso had summoned – an attack that Atemu, Yuugi, Jou and Seth only barely avoided – and were send to the Shadow Realm.

Dakuso laughed insanely as the small group scattered to avoid his Queen's attacks. Atemu and Seth were no longer holding Yuugi and Jou's hands, so he knew the two Ka's they had summoned were now gone. Yuugi and Jou were writing in pain, eyes only half open and frantically looking for Seth and Atemu for support. The blasts the Cosmo Queen had hit them with were very strong, and they weren't used to being hit directly by such force.

Seth and Atemu on the other hand had other things on their minds. Sure, they wanted nothing more than to get to Yuugi and Jou, there was just one slight problem with that: Dakuso's Cosmo Queen was standing between them and their loves, and it was fully powered with Shadow Magic coming directly from the five Millennium Items Dakuso owned.

Dakuso was fully powered with the huge flaming shadowy aura around him. The man was again laughing like a maniac while actually giving _more_ power to his Queen, and mentally already killing the four teens in front of him. Too bad for him that his fantasy world would have to be postponed, because Atemu decided that _nobody_ was going to hurt his Aibou without paying for it with their lives.

The Millennium Puzzle flashed brightly, the light not immediately dimming down as the force he was summoning was far greater than any normal monster could ever begin to tip. As the flash dimmed down, the three forms of Slifer the Sky Dragon, Obelisk the Tormentor, and the Winged Dragon of Ra materialized in the room, destroying it with only their sheer size.

The roof of the palace was thrown off, as the walls caved and the throne room was nothing more than a ruin that nobody would ever recognize. Dakuso stared in awe for a moment, already imagining these three holy beasts fighting for him, before concentrating back on his Queen again. He let even more energy flow through the link, powering the monster up to a level that was actually equal to that of the gods.

The Queen flew up and fired a magic blast at Slifer, who cried out in pain as it crashed into Ra. Before the Queen could fire another attack however, Obelisk knocked her out of the air with one well aimed punch.

As the four monsters continued to fight, Seth smirked at his cousin, before summoning his Blue-Eyes White Dragon with a white flash from the Millennium Rod, and powering the monster with the energy from the Millennium Rod so it would come at least a little bit closer to the power that the God Monsters and Dakuso's Queen possessed.

The beautiful white dragon materialized in from of Seth and roared as it flew up and fired a ball of white lightning at the Cosmo Queen who had been about to fire another attack at Ra. The Queen flew backward slightly, before firing an attack at the white dragon who roared in pain.

Seth and Atemu, now that the Queen wasn't blocking their paths anymore, wanted to run to Yuugi and Jou as fast as they could to help their loves. Sadly enough Dakuso beat them to it, standing between Seth and Atemu, and Yuugi and Jou with a huge maniacal grin on his face. Both Atemu and Seth glared fiercely as they saw the High Mage turned Pharaoh standing over their loves, an evil glint once more present in his eyes and a smug smirk plastered to his face. The aura that surrounded him was making sure Atemu and Seth wouldn't be able to get any closer then they were now, but seemed to only draw Jou and Yuugi closer.

"Look what I found, a bunch of weaklings!" Dakuso grinned as both Atemu and Seth glared, helpless to do anything that would actually help.

Dakuso crouched next to Yuugi, pulling the other up with him as they both stood up, "So you're the brat's lover huh? I should've known he would pick such a weakling like you, he's trying to make himself seem better than he actually is!" Dakuso grinned at Atemu's enraged expression, and threw Yuugi back to the ground, not caring what would happen to the boy at the moment

Atemu saw the hurt flashing in Yuugi's eyes just before Dakuso threw him to the ground. He knew that Yuugi didn't believe a word the madman was saying, but he had still been called weak, and Atemu knew that that wouldn't be the last of it. He'd do anything to get to his Aibou right now, but he had to give all his energy to the God Monsters fighting above him, leaving barely any to get through the aura Dakuso now used as a shield; there was no way to get through and get to Yuugi and Jou at the moment.

"Maybe I should just end your pathetic existence, you did tackle me you know." Dakuso grinned as he saw the enraged look increasing on Atemu's face. The teen was now trying to get through the aura no matter what.

"What's wrong brat? Can't get through? Scared to lose someone else you love to a person you once trusted?"

Atemu glared at the man, but his eyes also showed confusion. What was the madman talking about? The only person he'd lost that he loved very much was his mother. Nobody knew who had poisoned his mother… right? Did Dakuso actually know who had done it?

"What do you mean Dakuso?" Atemu hissed, trying to calm himself enough to think rationally again, and not let his anger get the better of him. Something that wasn't really working at the moment seeing as Yuugi was still at Dakuso's mercy.

"What? You mean you actually don't know? You don't know who poisoned your mother? I thought the entire palace knew! I remember hearing the cleaners talking about it even. You mean to tell me that a cleaner knew but not you?" Dakuso taunted, knowing full well that neither Atemu, nor Seth knew what had really happened to Queen Kireira. The Pharaoh had made sure everybody who had been involved, was either killed, thrown into the dungeon, or sworn to secrecy. He himself had been the one to create the poison that had killed the beloved Queen, very pleased that he would now only have to overthrow the Pharaoh. Nobody had known, but Kireira had been the better summoner of the two royals, so she would've been the hardest to beat.

Atemu simply glared even harsher at Dakuso, this glare somehow getting even worse as Yuugi let out a whimper. "Tell me!" he demanded. He wanted Yuugi gone there, but he also wanted to know what had really happened to his mother, who had really killed her and if it really did have something to do with him hating his father so much.

"Well, my dear Atemu. Do you really want to know who killed you mother?" dakuso taunted, knowing that he was irritating the crimson-eyed teen by stretching this out so much.

"Yes!" Atemu growled out, feeling his cousin also fighting against the aura keeping them away from Yuugi and Jou. He knew Kireira had been like a second mother to his cousin, and that the other wanted to find out who had poisoned her just as much as he did. Add that to the fact that his lover was at Dakuso's feet, and you had a very good reason to get through the barrier separating them from Dakuso.

"The poison your mother was killed with was made by me, the cook is who put it in the wine which killed her. But neither him, nor me were the ones to plan her death. That was someone else." Dakuso started, smirking smugly at Atemu who, for once, stayed silent, although he was still fighing against the aura. "The one who ordered it all was your father himself. Kireira was standing in his way to raise you the way he wanted to. He wanted you to be cold and heartless like he was. To rule the country with an iron fist, and Kireira was making sure that would happen. That's why he killed her, Atemu. He killed her for you. It's all your fault!"

* * *

**And that's it people! Wow, I finally got to tell who killed Kireira… It really does take me long for that kind of stuff to be revealed huh? Oh well, didn't see any reason to tell him sooner, nor any way to tell him so yeah. Anyway, hope you all liked the chap even though it's not all that good in my opinion, and R&R! **

**P.S.: The note that I'm still having writtersblock and that chapters might be later still counts, and will probably count until the very end of this fic. But don't worry, we're almost at the end anyway.**


	17. Chapter 16: End Game

**Hey people! Here's the next chap of DLG. Hope you all enjoy even though I think it isn't all that great.**

**To S2Teennovelist: Well I guess that I'll have to do it like this then but I'll have to make the replies shorter than what I'd write in the mails. Anyway, I love to get your reviews cuz their always very long and actually go into detail on what's in the chaps a lot. I'd go into detail on what you put down and all but the chapter is already short and I don't want the reply to you to be longer than the chap. If you wanna, you can get my email from my profile and add me to MSN so we can talk there or something but that's your choice.**

**Well I guess I'm done talking… uhm… typing here so R&R people!

* * *

**

**--: 16 :--  
End Game **

Atemu froze. His fault? He was the reason why his mother was dead? But… his father had ordered it all. His father had killed his mother… His father did it so he could get full control over him. If he hadn't been there, his mother would still be alive… No, that wasn't true. If his father had been cold enough to kill his mother just for this, than he would've killed her anyway.

Atemu's head was pounding as memories suddenly came back to him. He remembered now how he had walked into the throne room the day his mother had died. How he had cried as her heartbeat slowly faded away, and what she had told him. He finally understood what she had meant with those words. She had asked him not to become like his father and stay like the rebellious boy he was. And he had done that. He had always resisted his father in every way possible just because something in him said he hated his father. Now he finally knew why.

Dakuso's words came back to him again. Dakuso had been the one to create the poison that had killed his mother. And even if his father had ordered this, Dakuso had also said that he had been planning his take over even back then. If his father hadn't ordered the killing back then, Dakuso would've surely done it when he took over the throne.

It was his father's fault that his mother had died, and Dakuso had helped. Dakuso was just as guilty as his father. His father had paid; he was dead and Atemu doubted that he was buried in a tomb with even one of his possessions for the after life. The man would have nothing there. The only one that needed to pay now was Dakuso, and Atemu wanted to be to dot it.

Atemu hadn't even noticed that he had zoned out so much, but as he felt his anger rising at his thoughts, he noticed that things had changed from when he had last taken his surroundings in.

He had been pushed back by Dakuso's aura as he hadn't been trying to break through it. Seth on the other hand, was looking enraged and had almost gotten to the maniacally laughing Dakuso. The madman had one foot on Yuugi – who was laying on the ground on his back and seemed to be in a lot of pain as Dakuso was obviously putting pressure on his foot – as he held Jou in by the collar of his robe.

The monsters fighting above him where all heavily damaged. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon had many wounds and was smeared in blood. The three god monsters where covered in scraps and cuts, but only a little blood tainted their skin. The Cosmo Queen was in a similar state to the God Monsters, though more blood was covering her.

Atemu's attention snapped back to Dakuso as he heard a 'thump', and saw Seth being knocked back and fall to the ground as Dakuso's aura expanded. Atemu's anger finally flared out and an aura that could rival that of Dakuso with ease appeared around him. Dakuso was going to pay for what he had done, and he was going to pay for it right here, right now.

As Atemu's aura suddenly flared out, Seth snapped his head back to look at his cousin's sudden enraged face. Atemu had been just standing there for the last at least 5 minutes as Dakuso had bragged about how easy it had been to fool the old Pharaoh for so long, not to mention somehow blaming Atemu for each single thing. How Dakuso had thought this all up, was beyond Seth because he would've never been able to link Atemu to so many things. At Atemu's reaction Seth had first thought that Atemu was actually believing everything that the ex-High Mage was telling him, but now it seemed that it had only enraged him.

Seth's gaze snapped to the God Monsters above him as he felt strong energy waves coming from them. All three Egyptian Gods let out a roar of anger as they seemed to be glowing in pure energy. As Seth looked back at his cousin, he could feel the amount of energy radiating of him.

"This… This can't be!" Seth glanced at a now terrified looking Dakuso. The man had let go of Jou who had fallen to the ground, and had stepped away from Yuugi, though his aura still imprisoned them.

"You'll pay for what you've done, Dakuso." Atemu spoke in a low and menacing voice. Dakuso's fear vanished from his face and a death-glare replaced it.

"Is that so you little brat? Don't forget that I still have your lover here. Not to mention your cousin's Mutt." Dakuso spat. Seth's anger sparked again and the shock that had taken him over earlier disappeared completely.

'Nobody_ calls my Jou a Mutt!'_ Ignoring the fact that he himself had called Jou a Mutt for a long time, Seth's aura flared out again as well, and both he and his cousin gathered their Shadow Magic, creating dense balls of energy in their hands. The Blue-Eyes White Dragon above them roared at the sudden boat of energy, and her eyes blazed with an inner fire that promised a lot of pain for those in her way.

Dakuso merely glared and created a ball of Shadow Magic in each of his hands. Atemu's and his aura's clashed as they tried to grow even more to overpower the other.

Shadowballs were thrown and deflected, doing only little damage to the people they were supposed to hit, as Jou and Yuugi could do nothing but watch. The controlling of their Ka's had exhausted them, and being hit by a powerful blast from the Cosmo Queen hadn't exactly helped either. Adding to that the way Dakuso had treated them, and you could definitely say that they were in no condition to fight.

Of course, neither of them were really listening to all these things and were still trying to get up so they could help. Jou groaned as he got off the ground a little and watched just as a ball of Shadow Magic hit Seth's aura. It didn't penetrate it, but it did throw Seth back and there was no mistaking the wince that Seth gave as the ball collided with the flaming shield.

"Seth!" Jou snapped his head towards the man who had been responsible for for the Shadowball. The man was laughing insanely again, and it was annoying Jou to no end at the moment. _'So he think's it's funny ta hurt other people like dat huh? Well let's see if he still likes it when he's da one gettin' hurt.'_

Seeing that Dakuso hadn't noticed him rising or the call to Seth, Jou struggled to silently get closer to the madman. Just as Jou got close enough, Dakuso's head snapped towards him, a mixture of shock, anger, insanity and the slightest bit of fear visible in his eyes. Jou glared at the man who had hurt his lover, and somehow found the energy to get up.

"What the-" Dakuso was cut of as Jou gave him another fierce glare and hit the man in the stomach. He might not have had the ability – or energy – to summon his Ka, but he could sure as hell still hit someone.

Dakuso doubled over, but recovered before Jou could do anything else and hit the teen in the face. The man was old, but his strength was increased by the five Millennium Items he had on him, making him quite strong. Jou fell to the ground and landed painfully on his back outside of Dakuso's aura. A Shadowball that had been deflected off one of the aura's nearly hit him, and Jou's eyes widened at realiing the sudden danger he was actually in..

Jou looked back expecting another Shadowball coming right at him, only thrown by Dakuso this time, but was shocked as he saw Yuugi jumping the man. The Shadowball in the man's hand – that he had indeed already created – became unstable and exploded, the force making Yuugi crash into the wall behind them outside of Dakuso's aura, and making Dakuso cry out in pain.

Atemu and Seth watched wide-eyed as their boyfriends not only managed to do some damage to Dakuso, but also managed to escape the aura they'd been in. Shadowballs still in their hands and ready to throw, the two cousins glanced at each other, smirked, and looked back at Dakuso.

"Seems like you lost you hostages." Atemu growled, his anger taking over his shock again.

Dakuso looked at them again, snapping himself out of the momentary daze he had been in. As he glanced at his two hostages, he saw that they had indeed both escaped his aura. He suddenly felt a strong surge of pain shooting through him, and looked up to see his Cosmo Queen being hit by a strong combined blast from the three God Monsters and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. As he looked at Atemu and Seth again, he saw the two Shadowballs in their hands growing in size and power. Dakuso eyes widened; if these two balls would hit his aura, they'd definitely penetrate it and hit him.

"NO!" Dakuso's begging and crying out had no effect as Seth and Atemu put the last bit of power into the Shadowballs and threw them, the two orbs easily penetrating Dakuso's aura now that he was weakened enough. Just as the two orbs were about to hit Dakuso, a bright light emanated from above them. Ra and Slifer were both perched on Obelisk's shoulders and giving off a golden light as Obelisk seemed to gain more power. At the same time that Atemu and Seth's Shadowballs hit Dakuso, Obelisk hit the Cosmo Queen with his fist that seemed to have an infinite attack strength to it. Two loud screams were heard as the Cosmo Queen was slammed into a piece of wall – that was somehow still standing – which caved in and caused dust to fly around everyone.

Atemu felt the three God Monsters disappearing and fading back into the realm they came from, as finally exhaustion claimed him. As the dust slowly cleared, he could see Dakuso's form laying on the ground, not moving.

"Is he…?" Seth asked as he let his aura fade away together with the Blue-Eyes White Dragon above him.

"I think so." Atemu said. He looked around him to try and find the Cosmo Queen that would signal that Dakuso was still alive, but the monster was nowhere in sight, and Atemu knew that the attack Obelisk had send after her had been enough to destroy just about anything.

Slowly they walked over to the madman, only to see a lifeless look in the man's eyes. The combined power of Obelisk's attack and their Shadowballs had been enough; Dakuso was dead.

"Is he finally down?" Seth smiled as he heard his Pup's question. Looking up, he saw the other trying to get off the floor and onto his feet, though he was failing miserably at it since he had obviously used all his strength before. Even as the blonde briefly got to his feet, he swayed and fell back to the ground, groaning in slight pain.

"Yeah Pup, it's over." Seth smiled as he walked over to Jou and sat down next to him, before starting to check on all the wounds the other had. He quickly came to the conclusion that it was a miracle that Jou was even still conscious, let alone trying to stand up.

With a stern look, Seth pushed Jou back to the ground, "You're in no condition to be getting up. Now stay still."

Jou tried a glare and get up again, but one glance at the glare on Seth's face made him reconsider and stay down. Besides, everything in his body was hurting anyway. As he heard a deep chuckle coming from somewhere behind him, he turned his glare to the direction it had come from to see Atemu crouched next to Yuugi and smirking at them.

Atemu just chuckled again as he saw Jou glaring at him, before turning back to his little Angel against the wall. Yuugi was unconscious and his expression showed that he was in pain, but Atemu knew his Aibou would be okay if he got enough rest. As he took his Little One in his arms, he sensed other people near the entrance doors to the throne room that were surprisingly still standing. Both Seth and he tensed and looked at the door with slight glares as it slowly opened.

Carefully some guards, servants, and a couple of priests and priestess' looked into the room with fearful eyes that seemed to lose most of their scared touch when they saw Atemu and Seth still alive, and their Pharaoh on the ground.

Slowly one of the high priestess' that had also served under Aknunkanon's rule stepped forward, "P-Prince Atemu?"

Atemu relaxed slightly as he recognized the woman that had always tried to help him if his father went on one of his rampages, though still stayed on guard since he had no idea what to expect.

Slowly nodding, he saw the woman glancing at the dead body of Dakuso and hope starting to shine in her eyes, "Is he… dead?"

As a smile slowly appeared on Atemu and Seth's faces, they both nodded, now smirking widely. "Yes he is."

Loud cheers burst loose from everybody that had come into the room, scaring Atemu and Seth almost to death. Well it seemed Dakuso hadn't really been all that popular, which they didn't really find a surprise.

"Isis I-" Atemu's sentence was cut off by Isis as she bowed in front of him.

"Hush, my Pharaoh. We will tend to your wounds and those of your companions first." she said smiling before ordering some of the guards to take the small group to the healers as she would inform everyone in the palace of the shift in power.

Feeling how exhausted he actually was, Atemu and Seth glanced at each other before just nodding and picking up Jou and Yuugi bridal style to follow the guards. Many weird looks were thrown at them as they saw their new Pharaoh and returning High Priest with two other boys in their arms, but no questions were asked. Weird looks continued to be thrown at the blonde in Seth's arms, as he was protesting heavily, saying that he could walk himself while he was clearly in no state for such a thing. Their returning High Priest seemed to pay no attention to it, though if you would look into his eyes closely you would see the amusement shining in the cerulean depths.

As they followed the guards, Seth and Atemu softly debated what they were going to have to do. The war with the neighbouring country would have to be settled, and the other damage Dakuso had done to Egypt would have to be repaired. All insane laws that Dakuso had thought up would have to be withdrawn, and the palace itself would have to be partially rebuilt thanks to the God Monsters.

Seth let out a sigh, _'It's going to take quite some time to fix things again… I hope Atemu can take his new role as Pharaoh.'_ Glancing at his cousin who was now paying more attention to Yuugi than to anything else at the moment, a small smile graced Seth's features, _'And that Yuugi can handle him as well.' _

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**Okay, it's pretty short compared to the other chaps… okay who am I kidding, it's just plain SHORT (it doesn't even have 2500 words ;;), but at least it's something ne? Well this was the final chapter apart from the epilogue that will, as some of you already know, be full of just fluff and how our group of heroes is taking to life in the palace. The problem just is that I'm also going on vacation next week (I'm actually gonna meet my editor! ) so I don't know if I'll be able to update on time. Well that and the writers block is still there so yeah. Anyway, if I don't update next week, the update willl be three weeks from that, or maybe Dodo will let me update at hers… dunno about that. Anyway, I think I've kept you long enough so R&R people!**

**P.S.: Just in case I don't update next week, I wanna thank all the people who have been reading and reviewing this fic for so long, THANX! YOU'RE THE BEST! And special thanx to my editor cuz she didn't know Yu-Gi-Oh when she started reading this, but still edited it for me. Thanx a lot Dodo!**


	18. Epilogue: Alone with you

**Well here's the very last hopefully fluff-filled chap to this story, and the update is up sooner than I bet you all expected. Man, I can't believe I actually managed to finish this thing with an update every week even with all the problems I had… °gets all emotional° And I'm gonna miss this thing. I've been getting such good reviews and I'm gonna miss all of you!**

**S2Teennovilist: yeah, I agree that Dakuso had a really big death wish, and hey! He got his wish ne? °grins° Can't say I'm not being helpful. Although I think it must've kinda hurt yeah… Oh well, not my problem. And about the writers block, you have no idea how annoying it was to sit behind the computer, knowing you have to update on Saturday BUT NOTHING WILL COME OUT OF YOUR BRAIN! I think I spend at least 4 days writing that fight and I'm still now happy with it °sighs° oh well. Thanx for the review and have fun with the last chap!**

**Well I think I'll let you read the chap now, since that's what you came here to do °sighs° R&R!****

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**--: Epilogue :--  
Alone with you**

'_I still can't believe this…'_

"The East has reported that the damage done there has finally been repaired and-"

'_After all this time he tried to get my attention during those meetings…'_

"-lives are slowly starting up again. All opposing soldiers have left Egypt and-"

'_He finally did it…'_

"Pharaoh? Are you even listening to the report?"

Atemu sighed as he looked up from a spot on the large table in front of him, into the slightly annoyed eyes of Isis.

'_My father finally got me to pay attention to what's being said during the council meetings.'_

Another sigh escaped Atemu's lips as his left eye twitched slightly. "Yes, I am. You were talking about the opposing soldiers having left Egypt."

Isis blinked, obviously not having expected that Atemu had been listening to her report. "Yes." she said blankly before simply continuing the report she had been giving.

Atemu paid as much attention to what was being said as possible for his standards. It had been three months since Seth and he had beaten Dakuso, and Egypt was finally starting to recover from all that Dakuso had done to it. The war had been settled surprisingly quickly by simple peace-talks and explanations about what had happened. Of course, with Atemu being the new Pharaoh now, he had been very preoccupied and Seth and he hadn't been able to spend much time with Jou and Yuugi. That, and Atemu had to pay attention during those damned meetings he despised going to so much.

Atemu refocused on the meeting as his thoughts had already been drifting away to Yuugi and the amount of time they needed to catch up on. Not to mention all the things they could do in that time. He briefly glanced at his cousin to see him having just as much trouble paying attention to Isis' report as he was having at the time. It seemed his cousin was dreaming about the missed time with his 'Pup' as well.

Seth blinked as he felt Atemu's eyes on him, something that had snapped him back to reality. He'd been zoning out slightly during the entire meeting already, and Isis' boring voice wasn't really doing much to help him keep his attention where it should be at the moment.

Of course where his attention was supposed to be was discussable, since he himself though that his attention belonged with his Pup, not Isis.

After what seemed like an eternity, the meeting finally ended and Seth left the meeting room together with Atemu, both looking quite sleep-deprived, and annoyed.

"Seth?"

"Don't even think about it."

"But-"

"No Atemu. You have a country to rule."

"You know you want to get to Jou as much as I want to get to Yuugi."

Seth sighed as he looked at his now smugly smirking cousin. Atemu had a very good point. After three months of getting almost no sleep, let alone spending time with his Pup, he really did want to get away from all his duties and just do something alone with Jou.

"I do, Atemu. But Egypt-"

"Can handle itself for one day." Atemu cut in calmly as he crossed his arms, "I'm sure Isis and the other priests can handle it for just one day."

Seth let out a frustrated sigh, knowing his cousin was probably right. And of course there was that annoying voice in his head yelling at him to get his ass over to his love, instead of trying to find excuses to work.

"I hate it when you're right you know." Atemu's smirk simply widened as Seth mock glared at him. Isis was going to kill both of them for this, and if she didn't do it, Shimon or one of the others would… or they would all team up, Shimon would probably be the leader together with Isis in that case.

"Good, then I'm getting out of here before Isis gets her hands on me." Before Seth could say another word, Atemu had disappeared into one of the many corridors, off to find Yuugi. He sighed, "Well, if he's going to skip out on his duties," a smirk appeared on his face, "then so am I."

Quickly making his way to his bed chambers where he hoped to find Jou, he watched carefully so none of the other Priests would catch him. He swore that Shimon had somehow given the walls eyes just so he could keep an eye on everybody; the old man always knew exactly what was going on.

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"Okay, so I've counted all da dots on da ceilin', thought of at least fifty ways ta kill all dose Priests for keepin' Seth so busy, and annoyed about every guard in da place. Now what else can I do…" 

Jou let out a sigh as looked out of the window at the beautiful landscape of Egypt. To state the obvious, he was bored, and had run out of options to entertain himself even if they were only increasing his boredom.

"Maybe Yuugi and me can go and bug dat Shimon guy again…" Jou muttered, not noticing the door behind him opening and someone entering the room silently.

"Isis would warn him and he'd set up traps for you." Jou almost jumped into the air at hearing someone behind and tensed as he turned around. Before he could completely turn around though, strong arms wrapped around his waist and prevented him from turning, as soft kisses were laid in his neck.

Jou smiled and relaxed immediately, "Maybe, but it would be fun ta see how far we'd get." The grip around his waist loosened and Jou turned completely to look into the smirking face of his lover.

"True, it would be very funny to see you try and get to Shimon." Jou snorted at the mocking tone before being silenced by Seth's lips pressed to his. Not one to oppose to this, Jou quickly leaned into the kiss, very happy that Seth was at least spending a few minutes with him.

As they broke away after a few moments, Jou let out a content sigh as he rested his head on Seth's chest, "Not dat I'm complainin', but aren't you supposed to be rulin' Egypt with Atemu?"

"Well my dear cousin decided that he needed some alone time with Yuugi, and I don't want to face Shimon or Isis when they find out, so I followed his example." Seth said, pulling Jou ever closer to him.

"But… aren't Isis and Shimon gonna kill ya even more now?" Jou looked back at Seth to see nothing more than a shrug.

"They'll have to find me first in that case. And I'm planning on spending my entire day with you for a change."

"Really?" Seth looked into Jou's hopeful honey-brown eyes, and decided there and then that he didn't care what Shimon and Isis would do to him when they found him. The only thing that mattered right now was Jou, and making the Pup happy. After all, he knew Jou must've been bored to death over the last three months. The only thing he could really do was… well, annoy people. Come to think of it, that was probably why all the guards and Shimon were so cranky these days.

Seth smiled, a rare and only meant for Jou gesture that almost no one else ever got from him, "Really Pup. Now let's get out of the palace before anyone finds us and somehow sends me to work."

Jou quickly leaned up and brushed his lips with Seth as a quick way of thanking the other, "Well come on then. I say we take Atemu's route."

Seth smirked. Going through the window had been officially dubbed 'Atemu's route' ever since they had gotten back. Seth knew Jou and Yuugi had been using that route to go to town and duel there sometimes, as well as to check on Yuugi's grandfather. The man oddly reminded Seth of Shimon, and when the other would move into the palace – which was bound to happen sooner or later – Seth feared hoped his mind was just playing a trick on him.

"Let's go then." Seth released Jou from his hold after another chaste kiss, and both quickly jumped out of the window to make their way into town. Everybody knew by now that Jou and Yuugi were High Priest Seth and Pharaoh Atemu's lovers, and all knew as well that the two royalties had visited their town in disguise. The entire Duel Ground had been in uproar about it, and Seth knew that disguising himself wouldn't help one bit this time. He's just have to hope he wouldn't get stared at too much… okay, so he was asking for a miracle but those still happened you know.

The two teens made their way through town, talking about everything that had been going on for the past three months and adding more ideas to the 'how-to-kill-the-other-Priests-for-keeping-Seth-away-from-Jou' list. It seemed Seth had quite a vivid imagination when it came to certain points.

As they entered the Duel Ground, they finally noticed that all looks were on them, and that everybody had stopped doing what they were doing just to get a glance of the young couple. Seth felt his eye twitch. Why did everybody always have to stare, "What!" everybody immediately turned away at the harsh glare Seth was giving, and continued what they were doing while secretly still throwing glances at them.

Jou snickered at the reaction to his boyfriend's glare; he'd gotten too used to it to be even slightly fazed by it, "Come on, Seth. You're gonna glare holes into dem if you keep dis up." He simply leaned up and kissed Seth softly, wanting to break away immediately and leave it at that, but was stopped by Seth's arms wrapping around him and pulling him closer, deepening the kiss.

As the two pulled away after a while, all eyes where once again on them and Seth's just calmed nerves tensed immediately, his glare back in place completely.

Deciding that Seth would probably send everyone to the Shadow Realm if they stayed any longer, Jou started pulling Seth to the exit of the Duel Ground, already knowing a place where they could be alone.

"If I catch anyone else staring at us…" the rest of the sentence was muttered under Seth's breath and Jou snickered again.

"Come on, I know a place where we can probably be alone."

Seth gave him a suspicious and confused look but Jou merely pulled him along to the old part of town, and into one of the rundown houses there.

"Welcome to my place!" Jou said grinning widely at the shocked and half disgusted face; the house he's been living in before he had met Seth wasn't exactly in good shape, and Jou knew it.

A smirk came back on Seth's face after scanning the room they were in, and a mischievous glint appeared in his eyes, "Well at least we're alone now."

Before Jou could say or do another thing, he was roughly pushed against the wall with Seth attacking his lips and neck. As a moan escaped the blonde teen's lips, he smiled contently, glad to finally be alone with Seth.

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Yuugi blinked…. he blinked again… Okay, so there was nothing to do. He could deal with this. He could find a way to entertain himself until Atemu would be done with all this. 

Yuugi blinked one last time before letting out a long sigh. _'Well, maybe I can't but I don't have much choice.'_ He glanced around the large room Atemu and he now shared to find something he could do, only to come up blank; he'd done everything there was to do, and he didn't feel like going into town.

Groaning, Yuugi just flopped onto the bed and stared at the ceiling much as Atemu would do at times. After a while of blankly staring at the ceiling – and deciding that counting the dots on it like Jou had advised was just too boring – he closed his eyes, hoping that he'd get an idea for something like that.

He heard the door slowly opening and someone coming into the room, but just assumed it was one of the maids coming here to do whatever the hell she was supposed to do. It wasn't like Atemu would somehow walk through the door, having actual time to spend with him. Not that he blamed his boyfriend, it was those stupid Priests – Seth not included – that kept Atemu busy so much.

"Aibou?" Wait… there was only one person that called him that… and there was only one person with that voice that could send shivers down his spine…

Slowly amethyst eyes opened to lock with crimson, "Atemu?"

Atemu smiled softly as he sat down next to Yuugi on the bed and saw the shocked expression on his Little One's face. He leaned down without saying another word, and kissed Yuugi softly, enjoying their first relaxed moment in a long time. In the past three months, they had only quickly brushed lips, either because Atemu had to go or because he was just too tired to do anything.

As Atemu pulled away, he saw the bright smile he had missed so much over those three months coming back to Yuugi's face, the light that had dimmed in his eyes because of all the boredom returning in a flash.

"You finally escaped Shimon and Isis?" Atemu smirked at the all-knowing smile on Yuugi's face; his little angel just knew him too well.

"Would you rather have me going back to the throne room so I can work?" Atemu taunted slightly, immediately feeling Yuugi pulling him onto the bed. "I'll take that as a no."

Yuugi smiled and nuzzled into Atemu's chest as strong arms encircled his waist, pulling him even closer. As he felt Atemu's finger lifting his chin, Yuugi looked up to meet those beautiful crimson orbs, before closing his own eyes as Atemu's lips met his.

This kiss was much longer and more passionate then than the last, and just as the two pulled away for air, the door opened revealing a scowling Shimon.

"Pharaoh, I thought I'd find you here." Atemu groaned as Yuugi pouted. Great, now Shimon was going to force Atemu to come to the throne room, leaving Yuugi bored, and Atemu annoyed. Great, and just when they thought they'd get a little alone time.

"Shimon, I-"

"No Pharaoh, you have a country to rule. Now come along." Atemu felt Yuugi's arms around him tighten, obviously not wanting Atemu to leave.

"Can't you people just go _one_ day without me?" Atemu pleaded, "I've been spending all my time ruling for the past three months, and I'd like to spend some time with Yuugi now."

Shimon let out a sigh as he looked at the two young lovers. He knew that Atemu was right and that they deserved one day alone, though he was sure Isis would disagree with him. Pleading crimson and amethyst locked onto his own violet eyes, and he caved immediately, having absolutely no resistance to those looks.

"Isis is going to kill me for this." Bright smiles broke through on Atemu and Yuugi's faces, and every bit of doubt Shimon had had vanished, "Just don't expect me to try and stop Isis when she hears. I'm sure she'll want to come in here and drag you away. Now do you know where your cousin is?"

A smirk appeared on Atemu's face at the mentioning of his cousin; it seemed he had done the same and had even left the palace to be alone.

"Never mind, I think I already know." Shimon let out yet another sigh as he saw the smirk on his Pharaoh's face, before shaking his head and leaving the room. Now Isis was definitely going to kill him.

"So, where were we?" before Yuugi could answer Atemu's lips were once again on his, his tongue already asking for permission to enter. Yuugi gladly obliged, and soft moans escaped his throat as Atemu explored his mouth again, and let his hands roam under the robes he was wearing.

As they finally pulled away, Atemu started kissing his way to Yuugi's neck, sucking on the flesh there and drawing more moans of pleasure from Yuugi.

Just as Atemu started kissing his way back to Yuugi's mouth, the door once again opened – although al lot rougher this time – to reveal a pissed off looking Isis, the rest of the Priests behind her – though the other Priests looked more scared of Isis than angry at Atemu.

"Pharaoh, your presence is required in the throne room." Isis said as respectful as possible, though Yuugi thought is sounded more like a growl than anything else.

Yuugi glanced back at Atemu to see the very annoyed look on the other's face, and the light glow of the Millennium Puzzle that lay beside them on the bed. Well one thing was for sure, if Isis said another thing to get Atemu out of the room, she'd be facing a _very_ pissed off Atemu.

"You can handle ruling Egypt for one day without me Isis. Now leave."

"You are the Pharaoh," Atemu's eye twitched, "so you are the one who is supposed to rule," a low growl only Yuugi could hear, "so you need to come to the throne room." And that was it. Atemu's eyes turned a darker shade and the Puzzle was shining quite visibly right now.

"I said that you could handle the country for one day, and that you had to leave. Now go or make you." Even Isis took a step at the harsh glare and low dangerous tone Atemu was using. Maybe she could just leave it at this for once?

"Y-yes, my Pharaoh." Isis quickly closed the door, her angry mood completely changed to scared.

Yuugi shook his head as the Millennium Puzzle dimmed down and Atemu's expression went from angry to merely annoyed, "She's gone you know."

Atemu let out a sigh and looked back at Yuugi, his mood ruined and annoyance still visible on his face. Before he could really say anything to Yuugi, he felt soft lips press against his again, and his bad mood vanished in an instant. He gladly deepened the kiss, already forgetting all about Isis and the other Priests. The only thing that mattered right now, was finally being alone with Yuugi, and being able to spend some time with him at long last.

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**And that, people, was the very last chap to my story. I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Well thanx again to all my reader and reviewers, and of course a special thanx to my editor, and for the very last time, REVIEW!**


	19. AN: Lemon

Alrighty, so originally this A/N said that I'd written a lemon for this story and anyone who wanted it should review me with the request to get it. To be entirely fair, aside from the fact that I was paranoid beyond all belief about having this story deleted because of content it shouldn't have on this site, it was also to ensure that people would continue to review. Most people out there simply read a story and then don't bother to give any kind of feedback (good or bad) so I figured it'd be the perfect way to motivate people.

And it got me over 100 reviews to this little 'chapter'.

So, since I think I've cheated more than enough people out of some reviews, and also because some people didn't leave me with any way of actually getting the lemon to them, I've decided to post up a link here to the AFFnet version of this story, which has had the lemon in it ever sicne I finished it. As most of you probably know, links and such are deleted automatically by FFnet so naturally I've inserted some spaces to prevent tht from happening. Just remove the spaces that aren't supposed to be there and you're on your way.

ygo . adultfanfiction . net/story . php?no=600100100&chapter=18

I hope to continue getting reviews despite the fact that you guys no longer have to ask for the lemon, but I rather doubt I will. So, I'll say that I hope you've all enjoyed the story and that you'll enjoy the lemon (it was the first one I'd ever written so be warned) and check out some of my other work.

Moony


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